ISLAMABAD: Special Education Director General Asif Iqbal Bhatti on Wednesday said that the National Library and Resource Centre will be turned into a hub of learning activities for special persons.

He said that the facility would be equipped with Braille-based devices, Chrome books and other latest IT accessibility tools.

Mr Bhatti said this while speaking at an event organised by the Directorate General of Special Education in collaboration with Allah Wala Trust at the National Special Education Centre for special children in H-9/4.

Gifts were distributed among the enrolled children during the event. The DG said that special persons will be provided with accessible transport to reach this centre.

He also talked about the support required for revamping all special education centres.

The DG special education also briefed the chief guest of the event, Minister for State of Federal Education and Professional Training Wajiha Qamar, on the revamping initiatives taken for special children’s education and rehabilitation.

They said that initiatives taken by his directorate included the Prime Minister Meal Programme under which 1,600 special students were getting a daily meal in their special education centres and the Enrollment Enhancement Drive throughout Islamabad to get out-of-school special children facilitated through community rehabilitation and advocacy.

He said that the special education directorate also focuses on introducing high-tech virtual classrooms to ensure accessibility of all out-of-school differently-abled children.

Speaking on the occasion, the state minister for education appreciated the initiatives taken by the Directorate General of Special Education.

She assured the children of her support in making the directorate reach its goals.The state minister said that all special children were “gifts from God”.

“It is our duty to turn them into a national asset by providing them with the best learning facilities,” she said. She asserted the political commitment of the government of Pakistan to the holistic progress of special persons.

An official of the directorate of special education, which supervises around 13 institutions for differently-abled students, said the centre has been struggling to meet expenditures as it faced a shortage of funds even for running bus service until January this year.

He said that the issue of shortage of funding was also taken up by the National Assembly some months ago.

However, the official said that the secretary of education and DG Asif Bhatti, who took charge in December, arranged Rs49 million additional grant for this directorate, and since then, improvement has taken place. Earlier, this directorate was part of the Ministry of Human Rights and last year it was placed under the administrative control of the Ministry of Education.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2025