The Punjab government has decided to bind the public sector schools in the province to give admissions to differently-abled students on a priority basis.
The initiative is part of an inclusive education policy set to be launched by the provincial government.
According to officials, the admissions of differently-abled students will begin in the new academic year.
Before the admissions, training of school teachers will be conducted across the Punjab on dealing with students with special needs.
The officials said the Punjab School Education Department was preparing the policy to give an equal opportunity to the differently-abled children to get education in the government schools with other students.
So far, differently-abled students have been admitted to specific special education institutions of the Punjab government.
However, such educational. institutions are few or situated in remote areas. The parents face difficulties in picking and dropping the children.
“The plight of the special students was brought into the knowledge of Punjab School Education Department,” said an official.
The government is working on an inclusive education policy under which equal opportunities will be offered to diffetently-abled students to take admission to the government schools nearest their homrs.
The policy will be implement from the new academic session beginning this year, before which the teachers training training for the purpose will also be completed.
However, the official of the department said the blind, deaf and dumb students will be admitted to special educational institutions because t would be difficult for them to study with other students in government schools.
The differently-abled students who consider themselves capable of studying in the mainstream goverent schools will be facilitated and the school administrations will be instructed to give them admission on priority.
The sources said a quota for admission of differently-abled students might also be allocated this year.
They said work on the inclusive education policy was almost completed and would be presented after instructions from Punjab Education Minister Rana Sakander Hayat.
Commenting on the matter, Punjab Teachers Union Secretary General Rana Liaqat Ali said it was an important issue that parents of children suffering from disabilities were forced to admit them to special education institutions.
He said public schools hesitated to give admission to such children because it was difficult for the teachers to educate them.
He said children facing minor problems should be given admission under the inclusive education policy.
However, province-wide training should be start for teachers to enable the to educate diffetently-abled students, ” the teachers union leader said.
Approximately two million special needs students are currently enrolled in special education institutions across Punjab. These students, representing various age groups and including a significant number of girls, often face challenges accessing their educational institutions, as general public schools have historically been reluctant to admit them.
The Special Education Department recently conducted a survey revealing that around two million students are enrolled across 303 special education institutions in the province.
News published in the Express Tribune on 6th January 2025
