Policy slippage: Disabled mainstreaming plans await implementation

A notification in this regard was issued in November last year.

LAHORE:

It has been four months since the Higher Education Department (HED) issued a notification approving a special package for disabled children and students in the Punjab, but no work has started in this regard, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The HED issued a notification on November 7, 2013, stating that the chief minister had approved the following policies to facilitate disabled students: no age limit for admission to any education institutes in the Punjab; tuition, hostel and utility fee waivers for the disabled and physically challenged students; and at least one seat reserved in MPhil and PhD programmes in all public universities.  The notification says that it will be mandatory for all public buildings to have ramps, and special pathways and washrooms. These facilities will be ensured in all future constructions as well. Disabled students will be awarded laptops on admission and an electric wheelchair as a gift on successfully passing out from a university.

The notification, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, reads that these decisions will “take effect immediately and implemented by all relevant departments in letter and spirit”.

The notification was sent to the secretary to Punjab governor, the principal secretary to chief minister, administrative secretaries, commissioners, vice chancellors of public sector universities, the directors of public instruction, registrars of public sector universities, the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education chairmen, the directors of education (colleges) and all education executive district officers.



A registrar of a public university, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune that several disabled students had been admitted to universities after the notification was circulated, but none of the accompanying instructions were followed.

He said there was a quota for disabled persons at the education institutions, but no other incentives had been extended to them so far. He said no disabled student had admitted to any of the MPhil programmes at the university he was affiliated with.

“The special pathways may take some time to be constructed but other measures could have been taken immediately [as per the chief minister’s instructions] upon attaining admission to various programmes at the university. However, no educational institution has complied with them. “A monitoring report on the subject might be prepared and sent to the chief minister in the coming weeks,” an official at the HED told The Express Tribune.

HED Secretary Tariq Mahmood Khan told The Express Tribune that the responsibility of complying with the chief minister’s instructions lay with the relevant departments of educational institutes. “Special seats have been set aside for disabled students though,” he said.

Khan said that it was possible special pathways and various other incentives had not been extended to special students. He said he would definitely look into this.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2014.