Medical Education: ‘Add learning disabilities to syllabus’

LAHORE: Foundation for Rehabilitation and Education of Special Children (FRESH) has urged the government to include learning disabilities (LD) as a subject in the MBBS syllabus to ensure awareness on education with ‘special needs’. Ashba Kamran, the FRESH general secretary, on Monday said that awareness at grassroots level was critical since even the most prestigious schools in the country tended to classify students with learning disabilities as slow learners. She pointed out that India had already added LD in their MBBS syllabus in some of its states. “Around three to seven per cent of the world population suffers from LD. This can be easily overcome if they are diagnosed timely,” she said. Kamran said that after Lahore, FRESH had expanded its operations to Sargodha and Rawalpindi.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2011.