Making a living: People with disabilities demand implementation of 2% job quota

Protest against govt for failing to appoint them even though they have relevant qualifications.

PESHAWAR: To demand the implementation of the 2% job quota allocated for them, people with disabilities protested against the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government outside Peshawar Press Club on Thursday.

“Although the government had allocated a job quota for us, the policy has yet to benefit deserving people,” said 26-year-old Noor Rahman, a person with visual impairment from Lond Khwar, Mardan. “People without any disabilities are hired instead,” he told journalists.



“Recently, I had applied for a post at a school for children with visual impairment in Mardan, my interview went well and I was eligible for the post given that they required a secondary school certificate (SSC) qualification and I had passed FA,” he added. “However, they hired a woman who does not have visual impairment.”

Rahman demanded PTI Chairman Imran Khan–whose party heads the provincial government–increase the job quota from 2% to 5% and ensure the policy is implemented.

“We are highly-qualified people and have bachelor’s and master’s degrees,” said Rahman pointing to other protesters around him. “However, we remain jobless and most of us are reaching the age limit for government recruitment.”

Talking about the educational facilities available across the province, he said there are only six primary schools imparting education to differently-abled. He said the PTI government should also work towards setting up schools for people with disabilities at district levels.

The government should also announce a special stipend of Rs3,000 for those who are bed-ridden and thus cannot work for a living, they said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2015.