By Hina Kiyani
ISLAMABAD: Begum Samina Alvi, the wife of President Dr. Arif Alvi Tuesday emphasized on bringing differently-abled into the national mainstream through promoting inclusive education and ensuring their job placement.
She was addressing a ceremony held at the National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM) to distribute `100 Wheel Chairs among Persons with Disabilities’ through the joint efforts of Dawood Global Foundation (DGF) and Islamabad Foreign Women’s Association (IFWA).
Samina Alvi said, “Providing education and vocational training to enhance employability of differently-abled as well as ensuring their job placement is essential to help them become self-reliant”. “We have to take such measures that they may not consider their disability as an obstacle in their development”, she said. She said it is very unfortunate that majority of the differently-abled could not reach at higher education level despite availability of free education opportunities for them.
She urged the persons with disabilities to make efforts to earn by acquiring loans and starting some small businesses or through learning job oriented skills. “How far can they depend on alms and charity; at last they have to achieve financial independence”, she added. The wife of the President said that the present government is taking vital steps to ensure protection of rights of differently-abled persons to end sense of deprivation among them.
Such centers are being established in the country where they can be given skill based trainings while efforts are also underway for ensuring their jobs in different factories in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, she said.
She conveyed that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has also been signed with different banks to provide trainings to the differently-abled people for their job placements. The government is undertaking concrete efforts to facilitate them within its resources but “We have to work for their mainstreaming and uplift through public and private partnership”, she observed.
She also emphasized on registration of persons with disabilities with National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) to become eligible for certain government schemes.
She thanked DGF and IFWA for their efforts in providing 100 wheel chairs to the deserving women and child. Speaking on the occasion, Executive Director, NIRM, Dr. Shabana Saleem thanked the first lady for providing support to this department and her continuous struggle for improving the lives of the persons with disabilities.
The department was established in the year 1996 for the well-being of differently-abled and now equipped with latest facilities of speech therapies, orthopedic, surgeries etc through the patronage of the government as well as support of private donors, she said.
Samina distributed 31 wheel chairs among the women and children on the spot while 69 wheel chairs were kept in the hospital for those suffering from spinal cord injuries and other issues.
