In the surroundings of Dir town, according to a survey of

social welfare department, there are approximately 400

children with disabilities. The most common disabilities

are dumbness, deafness, lame, blind and mental

disability. Unfortunately the government did not take

the issue of disable children serious and that is why the

special education was approved back in 2011 and till

2014 there was no building, no teacher and no

equipment for these children. In January 2013, the

deputy commissioner Dir Upper requested SRSP to

rehabilitate the special education center of Dir so that

special children in the vicinity can be benefited. SRSP in

consultation with the district officer social welfare

surveyed the center and approved rehabilitation works

in light of suggestions from the concerned instructor.

“It was like a day of grief in our family when we came to

know that Neelam is dumb and deaf and she would

never ever be able to hear and speak. I remember I

along with my wife were crying that whole night and we

were thinking of all options that can give back my

daughter her speech” said Noorullah the father of

Neelam.

Children with physical and mental disabilities

experience personal limitations in the social,

SRSP has joined hands with European Union

under the Programme for Economic

Advancement and Community Empowerment

(PEACE) for the development of deprived and

disasters struck population of Malakand

division. Under the PEACE, SRSP in Dir Upper

has rehabilitated 20 government facilities that

were either blown by bomb blasts by Taliban or

by flash floods in 2010. The special education

center in Dir town is one of these facilities

rehabilitated by SRSP under PEACE. There are

total 51 special children registered in the center

while 32 children regularly come to the center.

Before the center was rehabilitated by SRSP

under PEACE, it was functional in a rented

building and now the education department

has allotted a space to the center where SRSP

intervened and rehabilitated and equipped the

center with necessary items and equipment.

The total cost of project was 596,219 PKR. The

project was completed in September 2014.

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psychological and economic spheres, some of which

can be alleviated with parental, community and

governmental support. The critical task is developing

and maintaining a focus on abilities rather than on

disabilities, then honing those abilities to provide the

greatest degree of personal autonomy. An estimated

1.4 million persons with disabilities in Pakistan were

the children of school going age, most of whom do not

have access to either inclusive or special schools due

to limited capacity in existing facilities.

“we play cricket and we enjoy it playing in the ground

of the center” these were the gesture words that I got

from one of the children Ziaullah who dumb and the

instructor in the center helped me in understanding

the gestures of Ziaullah. The instructor said “before

the rehabilitation work completed by SRSP, we usually

discourage parents to send their children to the center

as there were no facilities, no playing area and therapy

equipment. Now we encourage and mobilize parents

to send their children to the center and we use a carry

van for pick and drop of these children”.

“The center helped in mitigating the vexation caused

by the fact that my son can no longer live a normal life

as he was paralyzed on both his feet” said the father

of 11 year old yasir.

There is still a need of raising awareness of parents

and society on the rights of these disable children and

the government should also give due importance to

the issue. As the instructor said “the parents of disable

children still do not know how to treat their children

and hence sensitization of these parents is of equal

importance”.

GALLERY

Besides the physical work i.e. construction of

boundary wall, water supply, main gate, swing,

slide, see saw and white wash the other items

provided in the center includes stimulator,

diathermy machine, static cycle, 5 wheel chairs, 4

walkers, examination coach, shoulder pulley,

patient’s bed, jogging machine, massage machine,

10 balloons, 2 carpets and 2 infra red rays

machines.

FACT BOX