ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi signed the Islamabad Domestic Workers Bill 2022 and Dyslexia Special Measures Bill 2022 which were approved by parliament on Oct 11 in a joint sitting to protect the rights of domestic workers and take special measures regarding dyslexia, respectively.

Both pieces of legislation will be implemented in the federal capital.

The Islamabad Domestic Workers Bill was tabled by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Zahra Wadood Fatemi. It stated that a substantial number of domestic workers were regularly engaged by the residents of Islamabad and so far no mechanism for the regulation of their employment and protection of their rights had been instituted in the city.

“A number of cases of abuse and inappropriate treatment meted out to the domestic workers in Islamabad Capital Territory have been reported,” the newly-approved law said, adding that it aimed to provide legal cover to domestic helpers. It also aimed to improve working conditions and terms of employment for domestic workers through social welfare measures, such as working hours, minimum wages, and entitlement to leaves among others.

According to the law, employers in violation of child labour laws shall be subject to all civil and criminal liabilities.

The wages of every domestic worker shall be paid before the expiry of the fifth day, it said, adding that no wage period shall exceed one month.

Where the employment of any domestic worker is terminated by an employer, the wages earned shall be paid before the expiry of the second working day from the day on which the employment was terminated.

Dyslexia Special Measures Bill

It was tabled by PML-N Senator Nuzhat Sadiq. “…children suffering from dyslexia or associated disorders are unable to fully benefit from the international and national legal standards [of education], the senator said, while terming dyslexia the most common learning disorder in children.

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty in reading.

“Due to lack of awareness about dyslexia in Pakistan, we have to rely on international statistics according to which 15 to 20pc of children in each class have some form of learning difficulty,” it read.

“It is not a disease and therefore has no cure, and with support: proper instruction, and hard work, many people with dyslexia are able to succeed academically and in their later lives,” according to the law. But most of the parents of dyslexic children are in denial, and educational institutes are not dyslexia friendly,” the senator said in the bill.

“Many in Pakistan still think that a learning disability comes under the mental illness category and this adds to the shame and stigma. The schools in Pakistan do not have programmes to help children with such learning disabilities, and teachers are not generally trained to deal with the issue, if not completely ignorant of it. The few private schools that offer special education often charge extortionate prices which aren’t accessible to the general public.”

The law pledges measures for the education of dyslexic children, stating that all children with dyslexic or associated disorders have a right to education to enable the full development of their human potential.

“No child with dyslexia or associated disorder shall be excluded from the education system on the basis of it, and the government shall ensure that all persons with dyslexia or associated disorder, especially girls, have access to education, without discrimination and on an equal basis with others, at all levels.”

The government shall prescribe procedures for identifying children having dyslexia or associated disorder, according to the newly-approved law.

“It shall also ensure dyslexia and associated disorder screening test of all the children at the time of their admission in schools,” it said, adding that every school shall have a staff of special educators who have the requisite qualifications and training to cater to the needs of students with dyslexia or associated disorder.

“Once a child has been identified with dyslexia or associated disorder, the child or parent shall be entitled to ask for specific instructions for that child’s specific needs,” the law added.

Published in Dawn, October 23th, 2022