KARACHI, May 24: The 18 hearing-impaired students, who passed the BA examinations given by Karachi University in first division not long ago, were promised jobs by the president of Pakistan on Saturday.

In his speech at the inauguration of the Dewa Academy Complex, which followed two tableaux depicting the problems faced by the hearing-impaired graduates, President Musharraf directed the governor of Sindh to see to it that they got ‘good jobs’. On the occasion, he also announced a grant of Rs10 million for the academy.

He asked the chief minister and the governor to move a summary for the establishment of ‘special university’ which would be the second of its kind in the world. The first and only one is in Washington DC.

President Musharraf said the summary will ultimately land in the higher education commission, where the proposal will be supported by him. However he urged the administration of Dewa Academy Complex — comprising pre-primary, primary, secondary and graduate-level institutions — to raise standards higher so that complaints were not aired in future.

The president urged the philanthropists to donate generously to good causes and organizations. He was of the view that given a will, trust in one’s abilities and faith in God, one could successfully see off all kinds of challenges.

He claimed that his government attached importance to education. “Now we will attach due importance to special education as well.”

President Musharraf said he was honoured to become the chief patron of Dewa Academy and assured his support for all future endeavours.

Earlier, Shujaat Ali of the Dewa Academy stated in his speech that his institution needed financial support. He underscored the need for a ‘special university’ which could meet the educational requirements of special children, including those with hearing impairment.

Mrs Gauhar Ayub Khan, who is the mother of a hearing impaired young man, spoke at length about her agony at discovering that her first born was disabled. She described the trials and tribulations faced by her in raising a hearing impaired child.

“But today my son earns a respectable salary. In my opinion, if any one earns honest wages, it’s my son.” Mrs Gauhar Ayub She spoke highly of the Dewa Academy and praised the services rendered by its faculty.

She pointed out that the rule stipulating that 2 per cent of jobs be set aside for the disabled people was not being implemented properly. “People pay a lot of lip service but the law is there in name only.”

The founder and chairman of the academy, Munir Ahmed Lodhi, said Stephen Hawkins had created a name for himself even though he was almost totally paralysed. “His body has failed him, but because he has a very active mind he is recognized as the best physicist after Einstein.”

Advocating the establishment of a ‘special university’, he said such an institution would afford the disabled people, coming from numerous institutions in the country, an opportunity to go for higher studies. Providing faculty for a university would not be a problem because three universities, namely Open University, Karachi University and Punjab University, already ran special education programmes under which teachers were trained.

Munir Lodhi was of the view that special children were often neglected by their parents. He urged the parents to provide psychological support to their children.

The proceedings of the event were conducted by Moin Akhtar, the famous actor who has been involved in social work since the late 60s.