KARACHI: Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Former Justice Maqbool Baqar has directed the chief secretary to ensure the implementation of a job quota for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the government and private sector so that they can earn their livelihood on their own.
This he said while presiding over a meeting of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPD) here at CM House. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam, Chairman P&D Shakil Mangejo, Secretary Finance Kazim Jatoi, Secretary DEPT Taha Farooqi and others.
Secretary DEPD Taha Farooqi briefing the chief minister said that his department was running four Centres for Autism Rehabilitation Training Sindh (C-ARTS) at Karachi and Hyderabad and 66 Special Education and Rehabilitation centers (SERC) in all six divisions of the province where 4190 children were enrolled. Out of 4190 enrolled children, 2923 are male and 1242 female. The number of employees teaching and non-teaching staff comes to 794.
To a question, the CM was told that Rs 2000 stipend was deposited in the account of the child’s mother every month. All the children are also provided the pick and drop facility from their doorstep to school and back. During school time, all children are provided lunch.
The children along with education and rehabilitation are also provided vocational training in different trades. Up to now, 208 children have been trained in various trades, Secretary DEPD Taha Farooqi told the CM.
At this, the CM said that the government has already reserved a five per cent quota for special persons and that quota must be implemented in true letter and spirit.
The CM directed the Chief Secretary to issue necessary directives to all the government departments and through the labour department ensure the implementation of job quotas in the private sector.
Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam said that DEPD issued Disability Assessment Certificates against which job quota was being implemented. It was pointed out that since 2021 to this date the DEPD has issued 34,488 certificates.
The Chief Secretary said that all the Sindh govt departments were implementing a five per cent quota in employment for Persons with Disabilities. “By now, 1134 Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) have been provided jobs in all the districts.
The CM was told that denying admission to slow learners / mild Autistic by Montessori and Primary Schools was a big problem and resulted in an artificial burden on the DEPD Rehabilitation Centers of DEPD.
The CM said that ‘inclusive Education’ could discourage the wrong labeling of kids as ‘Special’ or ‘Autistic’ at the age of three/four years without giving them a chance for school admission. He directed the chief secretary to discuss the issue with the school education dept and resolve it.
The CM was told that DEPD has The Special Education Teacher’s Training Academy (SETTAS), at Kotri established in 2018. The Sindh government leads from other provinces by establishing the 1st Special Education Tear’s Training Academy in Sindh, the chief secretary said.
Secretary DEPD said that since its inception SETTAS has completed 10 training programs and two were in progress in the fields of Visually Impaired, Hearing Impaired, Occupational therapy, Speech Therapy, and Autistic and ADSD.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023