Autism seminar: ‘PBM told to vacate special children’s facilities’

Baitul Mal was served notices after refusing to vacate NSEC hostel, playground

ISLAMABAD: The National Special Education Centre for Mentally Retarded Children (NSEC) will soon regain possession of a hostel and ground which are occupied by Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM).

Minister of State for the Capital Administration and Development Division Barrister Usman Ibrahim said this on Thursday while inaugurating NSEC’s new autism unit.

He added that a notice was served on PBM last month, while also revealing that a Rs45 million budget has been prepared for the NSEC and that it will be approved in the upcoming budget sessions.

Meanwhile, during the concluding ceremony of a three-day workshop on “Creating Awareness about Autism”, speakers agreed that lack of funds and space are major issues in handling the rising number of children with intellectual disabilities, especially autism.

They asked the government to allocate substantial funding, create more space and awareness about the problem.

Special Education Centre Vice-Principal Afzal Shahzad said one in 68 children is affected by autism, with boys five times more likely than girls to have the disorder. These figures do not sit well with the centre’s limited capacity and resources.

The autism unit aims to take in at least 100 autistic children for its newly-established centre, as there are only 30 autistic children enrolled at this time.

The autism unit began working on Tuesday and is the first of its kind in Islamabad or Rawalpindi.

Although work on the autism centre was initiated under directives from President Mamnoon Hussain on April 2, 2014, it still awaits the allocation of funding and space by the government.

NSEC Vice-Principal Rahat Sultana said the funds required to expand the unit are expected to be approved in the federal budget in June. Speaking in detail about the special education centre’s ongoing tussle with PBM, she said the centre was established on self help basis and “now we are trying to secure a hostel and another building which are being used by PBM. The hostel and the adjacent ground, which were actually meant to serve as a playground for NSEC, have being taken over by PBM. “They have turned the playground into a parking lot,” she said.

Rahat Sultana explained that they need access to the playground immediate basis for activities such as occupational therapy and sports for autistic children. She said that everything that has been established specifically for the new centre was funded by donations from students of Roots school.

Vice-Principal Rukhe Afzal Shahzad explained that the objective of the workshop was to train teachers and parents of children affected by autism. Emphasising on the importance of parent-teacher coordination, the vice-principal said half of the responsibility lies with the parents. She also maintained that the neurological disorder becomes more manageable if it is addressed early on.

Although a special education wing was established in 1982, the education centre building was only set up in 2000, almost two decades later.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2015.