With respect to disability and particularly education of persons with disability, Pakistan has witnessed periods of efforts and periods of silence. The first ever action taken regarding disability was under the report on National Commission on Education in 1959, according to which vocational educational services be provided to people with disabilities (UNICEF, 2003). The country saw its first ever law around disability being passed in 1981 (The Disabled Persons Ordinance 1981) after the UN declared the year 1981 as the International Year of Disability. As a consequence, increase efforts were taken for the rehabilitation, welfare and education of those with any disability. 20 years later, in 2002 the National Policy for persons with Disability was developed and a plan to implement it was established then in 2006 as the National plan of Action. According to article 25a of the constitution of Pakistan, the country is now responsible for the free and compulsory education of all children between the ages of 5-16 years. The gap however, between this law and the ground realities is wide.
According to a report prepared by the British Council, the prevalence of disability around the world is approximately 15%. However, in Pakistan, other than the census, there has been no systematic large scale study that explores the prevalence of disability. This dearth of research has affected the services present for those with disabilities, may it be vocational, rehabilitation, welfare, or education. Most services and institutes have been made from a charity and welfare perspective. Over the years, despite the increase in awareness regarding rights of persons with disabilities, educational efforts for them have remain fragmented. Parents, teachers and the public in general remain unaware of the different kinds of disabilities with misconceptions being common, which has given rise to stigmatization. Moreover, professionals, such as pediatricians, psychiatrists and general practitioners to whom majority of the population looks up to for medical advice, remain unaware of disorders such as autism and other developmental disabilities. The government of Punjab recognizes disabilities in 5 categories, namely, visual impairment, hearing impairment, slow learners, physical disability and mental disability. The focus of governmental bodies has been on the establishment of separate schools for children with disabilities falling in the aforementioned categories. This consequently excludes children who might not fall in these categories (e.g., autism, learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, etc.) or might be on the mild end of the spectrum and hence have a higher chance of being overlooked. Further, parents are hesitant in sending their children with mild to moderate difficulties in these strictly labelled schools to avoid stigmatization. This entire scenario has created an environment not so conducive for inclusion and inclusive education.
With just a handful of projects encouraging inclusion and integration, mostly taken on by private institutes, no systematic large scale initiatives have come to the forefront by the government. Hence, the approach of integrating students with special needs in the mainstream class rooms is still a budding concept. According to Hussain (2012), some of the barriers in way of fostering inclusive education in Pakistan are discriminatory attitudes among people regarding disability, inaccessible schools and buildings, lack of awareness among people, biased curriculum, lack of support system, inadequate financial support and absence of collaboration among stakeholders.
Hence, inclusion and integration is a concept that cannot be enforced with just a law being made or a bill being passed. The ground implementation of this concept needs a change of perception, resources, planning and the necessary expertise to propagate it. However, unfortunately in Pakistan, the efforts for this particular purpose have not been given much attention. The challenge then lies in identifying what bottle necks exit in the way of integrating all students in mainstream schools and how to overcome these hurdles within the limited resources available. It has been highlighted by authors that low and middle income countries like Pakistan need access to cost effective, sustainable, practical, well integrated programs that meet the needs of the local population (Mirza et al., 2009; Tareen et al., 2008;). There is a dire need of quality research that depicts a true picture of the status of education delivered in mainstream and special schools. Research that informs about the current obstacles, resources available, teaching practices and learning outcomes will pave way for bringing about the necessary changes in policy, teacher training programs, and infrastructure. Such evidence, however, will act as only as a base for all the necessary further work.
References
Hussain, K. (2012). Fostering Inclusive Education in Pakistan: Access and Quality through Primary Education through Community School Networks (Working paper no.6). Retrieved from Brookings Institute website: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/fostering-inclusive-education-in-pakistan_khadim-hussain.pdf
The British Council, Moving from the margins, Mainstreaming persons with disabilities in Pakistan. (2014). A custom research report produced for the British Council.
Retrieved from: https://www.britishcouncil.pk/mainstreaming-persons-disability
UNICEF. Examples of Inclusive Education. (2014). Retrieved from:
http://unesco.org.pk/education/icfe/resources/res26.pdf
Haider, S. I. (2008). Pakistani Teachers’ Attitudes towards inclusion of students with special educational needs. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 24(4): 632-636.
Mirza, I., Tareen, A., Davidson, L. L. & Rahman, A. (2009). Community management of intellectual disabilities in Pakistan: a mixed methods study. Journal of intellectual Disability Research, 53(6): 559-570. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2009.01176.x
Tareen, A., Ahmed, M., Ahmed, I., Sikander, S., Tahir, K., Hafeez, A., Mirza, I. & Rahman, A. (2008). Feasibility Study of a Community-Based Intervention for Mental Retardation in Rural Pakistan. Pakistan Pediatric Journal, 32(4): 200-207.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA)
