Varsity’s new building not fit for differently-abled

Most of the infrastructure on the KU campus has been designed without regard to those with disabilities

KARACHI:

Usually constructing new buildings translates into fixing the wrongs that may have existed in the old ones; however, the University of Karachi (KU), has not availed such a chance in the construction of its newest addition to its campus.

Sindh’s largest university’s new law school building will be open for students soon but it may not be able to cater to differently-abled students as its ground floor is sufficiently higher from ground level and there are no ramps to access it.

A site visit by the Express Tribune also shows that differently-abled students were not taken into account during the construction of toilets. It is pertinent to mention that KU has set aside a 2 percent admission quota for differently abled students, which translates to 280 seats, yet, there are no amenities available for such students. The prevalent legislation in this regard, Right of Persons with Disability Act 2020, passed by the National Assembly (NA), requires that both the public and private sectors of the country have to provide facilities so that individuals with disabilities can access buildings, hospitals, and transportation. Since the building’s construction is being funded by the Bohra community, The Express Tribune contacted Karim Hatim, the focal person for the board behind the building’s construction and inquired about the lack of amenities for students with disabilities, to which he replied the issue would be addressed soon.

“I will meet with the Vice-Chancellor (VC) and if there is an issue with the building’s construction then it will undoubtedly be fixed,” Hatim reassured. However, the law school building is not the first one to ignore differently-abled students; most buildings on KU campus built during the past few decades have failed to accommodate people with disabilities. A student of the computer science department, Hussain Abbas, while talking to the Express Tribune said that since the student population of those with disabilities was low, the university had ignored them altogether.

“There is a lack of ramps, elevators, and special restroom facilities in both the old and new KU buildings. Even in the administration block there is no ramp despite it being the varsity’s main building,” Abbas informed. In this regard, during a recent visit of Chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to the law school building, the Express Tribune pointed out that there is a dearth of facilities for differently abled students including. The VC, Dr Khalid Iraqi, assured the Express Tribune at that time that he would speak with the concerned officials and would arrange for ramps and elevators.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2022.