Interregional Seminar and Regional Demonstration Workshop on Accessible Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and Persons with Disabilities
Bayview Park Hotel, Manila, Philippines, March 3-7, 2003

Country Paper
Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Mr. Khadim Hussian Shah
Delegate

Pakistan emerged on the world map as an independent state on August 1947. Its establishment was the culmination of the struggle by Muslims of the South Asian Subcontinent for a separate homeland of their own under the dynamic leadership of Quid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The population of Pakistan is approximately 140 million. Muslims are the major group of the population while Hindus Sikhs, Buddhists Christians and Parsees are also contributing to its total. The population of disabled persons in the country of calculated according to WHO criteria of ten percent of the total population comes to approximately 14 million by the end of 2002. The disabilities within the defined population comprise.

The above mentioned categories of persons have special needs arising from the nature of their problem. To address these needs Pakistani Society has also organized specialized education services like other nations of the world. These services signify education consistent with academic, social, physical and rehabilitative requirements of persons with disabilities. Although special education emerged as a new discipline in Pakistan after the IYDP(1981) and United Nation?s Declaration to obsere1983-92 as the Decade of the Disabled even than a reasonable increase in the provision of services for disabled are witnessed.

At Present there are 45 institutions for Physically Handicapped Children, 40 for Mentally Retarded Children , 63 for Visually Impaired Children, 82 for Hearing Impaired Children and 67 for Multiple Handicapped Children. These institutions are managed by Government and Non Government Sectors. The existing services offered to Children having disabilities include.

• Provision of education from Kindergarten to elementary, secondary, and higher education level.
• Organization of vocational training for special children and adults.
• Bring about income-generating opportunities for special children through sheltered workshops.
• Create awareness about prevention and early intervention strategies to minimize the effects of disabilities.
• Facilitate special children in becoming useful and productive member of the society.
• Extend facilities like health, counseling and guidance to special children and their families.
• Promote community participation of children with disabilities and vice-versa.

Owing to the pioneering work of the voluntary organizations (NGOs) and the initiative taken by the Government since 1947, the educational provisions for special children have witnessed a reasonable increase even then these institutions are hardly serving the 19% of the school going special children i.e. 22% of the total population of visually impaired children; 28% of hearing impaired; 15% of physical disabled; 13% of mentally retarded and 22% of multiple handicapped?.

It shows that Pakistan has a big number of out of school special children for whom the existing educational provisions are insufficient. Besides this the present trend in population growth would multiply this number in future, if present situation prevails. The present system may not be sufficient to meeting requirements of special persons in the years to come, without embracing the emerging information and communication technology.

Now a days information and communication technology(ICT) is integrating into the classroom at all levels of effective learning and good teaching in the form of planning and organization of teaching, note taking, writing assistance, productivity, access to reference materials, cognitive assistance, (creativity) instructional purposes, evaluation of academic outcomes and material modification.

ICT offer both challenges and encouragement to educators who are committed to fostering learning. Accessible ICT is used to support collaboration among students, teachers, parents, professionals, administrators and managers. It helps to acquire resources from remote locations. It is an aid to teachers in assessment of student progress and the management of instruction.

The wide applications of accessible ICT in education and independent living of children having special needs has enhanced special students? performance, motivation and satisfaction along-with other academic outcomes such as social adjustment, stress relaxation problem solving and collaborative learning and encouragement to reinforce.

Particularly the computer assisted learning and computer based instruction present information dynamically and in many forms which help students having special needs to become independent learners and more confident self-starters. The confidence in their performance lead them to significant improvements in their behaviour, which ultimately promote positive attitude, self esteem and independence.

The accessible ICT available to handicapped in Pakistan comprises, print media, graphic media, photographic media, audio and video media, simulation, games and computer in some institution to allow the students to experiment with multimedia production.

We are aware that instructional activities making intensive use of technology can lead to significant improvements in student achievements. Represented information dynamically and in many forms. Became socially aware and more confident. Communicated effectively about complex processes. Used technology routinely and appropriately. Became independent learners and self-starters. Knew their areas of expertise and shared that expertise spontaneously. Worked well collaboratively. Developed a positive orientation to the future.

There are many successful practices in use of accessible ICT which have proven their usefulness in administrative applications, instructional significance and minimization of effects of disabilities for special students. A vast array of application programme software is available for instructing students, many of the technologies can be combined together or customized to derive maximum learning related benefits for special children.

The teachers are not provided with appropriate systematic training in Pakistan. They usually trained themselves on their own. The system for staff development and the equipment procurement are not worth mentioning. As for as the labs to practice on the accessible ICT is concerned they are not fitted or linked with internet to allow remote resources to be integrated into classroom instruction. The concept of technology instructor or coordinator is yet to be realized thus to create such awareness?. yet much is to be done.

In order to meet the unique educational and other needs of special persons, mobilization of resources and specialized services, books and instructional material in appropriate media, as well as special equipment and technology is of great importance for a country like Pakistan which is just a follower of technologically advanced countries. We are here to share the experiences of successful practices of ICT operating widely and would try to make inaccessible ...accessible to us as well.

THANK YOU.

Return to top

Copyright (c) 2003 AIMS/VisionOffice.
Last updated 03/03/03. Contact: info@visionoffice.com