Pakistan National Council of the Arts’ (PNCA) endeavour to bring to light the talents of special children is bearing fruit. Its latest show, “Talent Hunt Discovering in Special Children”, acquainted the audience with some gifted children who have been kept from the limelight by their disabilities.
The colourful show, organised by PNCA in collaboration with the Directorate General of Special Education and Social Welfare, featured enthralling performances by these special children, who are all members of different special education institutes. They presented a variety of skits, tableaus and songs, keeping the audience captivated for over three hours.
The performances of Maria Ahmed, a visually-impaired student, who sang “Mauj bhare ya aandhi aye diya jalaye rakhna hai” and Subhan Rasheed, a mentally-challenged student, who played folk tunes representing the culture of each province of the country, were some of the highlights of the show and received vociferous applause from the audience.
Fazal Ghani and his group from Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Disabled Persons (VREDP) presented an informative skit highlighting the struggles of people before partition, up until Pakistan’s birth.
Maria Ahmed said, “Today I feel proud after getting such a positive response from the audience and hope to be given more similar opportunities”.
The show also included performances by Riffat Hussain, Kamran and Sadia, among other physically and mentally-challenged students.
The PNCA auditorium was uncharacteristically packed, with Special Education and Social Welfare Directorate General (DG) Mustafa Kazmi as the chief guest. National Council for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (NCRDP) Deputy Director Rana Saeed Ramzan kept popping on stage to amuse the audience with some rib-tickling jokes between performances. He informed the audience that there are 27 special education centres of international repute providing education to thousands of handicapped students.
Mustafa Kazmi appreciated the performances of the students and said that they “deserve platforms where they can showcase their hidden talents”. He urged parents to send their handicapped children to special schools to aid in their upbringing.
PNCA Acting Director-General Hassan Abbas said that PNCA is committed to providing equal opportunities to special people, adding that two events for special children have been held in the current month alone.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2011.
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