Government wants to bring special children into main stream:Secretary Special Education, Punjab Abdullah Sumbal

Lahore:Secretary Special Education, Punjab Abdullah Sumbal has said that the Punjab Government takes it as a challenge to bring the special children into main stream of the Pakistani society as an integral part of our social fabric. There is a dire need to put concerted efforts by both the private and public sectors to meet this challenge, he added.

This was stated by him while addressing the ceremony of certificates distribution among the newly trained female teachers of special children at the central campus of “Tanzeem Al-Lisaan” at Faisalabad. Director Regional Secretariat of Federal Ombudsman at Faisalabad Dr. Tariq Sardar, EDO(Community Development) Asif Tarar, DO (Social Welfare) Sarfraz Ch., DO (Special Education) Muazzam Bin Zahur, General Secretary Tanzeem Al-Lisaan at Faisalabad. Iftikhar Ahmad, Principal of the Central Campus Ms. Kalsum Iftikhar and the relevant officers of the department of special education, Punjab attended the ceremony. Abdullah Sumbal termed “inclusive education system” for the special children an effective tool to minimize the huge difference between the standard of general education at the regular schools and that of the educational institutions providing specific education to the special children. This will culminate the ability in the special children to excel in higher education also advancing shoulder to shoulder with the normal students at the regular educational institutions with a touch of class. The Secretary Special Education lauded the performance of Tanzeem Al-Lisaan in imparting specialized training to the female teachers of the schools meant for the special children only. He distributed certificates to the participants of the teachers training programme and inaugurated “Tanzeem Al-Lisaan Library”. General Secretary “Tanzeem Al-Lisaan” Iftikhar Ahmad apprized the chief guest of curricular activities and technical facilities provided in various centres being run by the NGO Tanzeem Al-Lisaan which include computer education, vocational training, physical fitness centres, psychological counseling and the facility of audiology clinic being provided to 1100 special children suffering from Mental Retardation, impaired hearing and visual problems apart from different physical disabilities.

Earlier, Secretary Special Education, Punjab, Abdullah Sumbal disclosed while addressing a meeting regarding implementation of inclusive education system at the office of Divisional Commissioner Faisalabad that the Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has accorded approval to the policy frame work of inclusive education system for the special children suffering from mild to moderate physical disabilities. Under this system, the special children will be given education in the general educational institutions with the normal students in different cities of the province where proper infrastructure and quality educators are available.