{"id":4365,"date":"2025-07-07T18:36:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T18:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2025\/07\/07\/special-education-crisis-pakistan\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T18:39:27","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T18:39:27","slug":"special-education-crisis-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2025\/07\/07\/special-education-crisis-pakistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Committee Condemns Crisis in Special Education: Vacant Posts, Wasted Funds, and Abuse Scandals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senate Panel Slams Mismanagement in Special Education: Empty Posts, Lapsed Funds, and Lack of Trained Staff Raise Alarm<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Nadeem Tanoli<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Islamabad: <\/strong>The Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training has sharply criticized the crumbling state of Pakistan\u2019s special education system, following a detailed briefing by the Directorate General of Special Education (DGSE). From staff shortages and unspent funds to child harassment cases and outdated certification processes, the committee called for immediate and far-reaching reforms to restore integrity, accessibility, and functionality to services for children with disabilities.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, the DGSE revealed that out of 653 sanctioned posts, 142 remain vacant, while an additional 64 crucial roles were eliminated in a recent downsizing initiative. Senators expressed concern that this administrative thinning has crippled daily operations and undermined service delivery in already fragile special education institutions.<\/p>\n

Equally troubling was the revelation that over 63 million rupees allocated for the year 2023\u201324 were not utilized and lapsed. When the DGSE representative attempted to describe this as a \u201csaving,\u201d the committee chairperson strongly rejected the framing, calling it a clear case of inefficiency. She emphasized that the unused funds could have directly supported critical services for children with special needs.<\/p>\n

The briefing also shed light on the acute shortage of trained professionals able to support children with autism, ADHD, and other learning disabilities. The chairperson lamented that even private schools fall short in this area, often treating teaching as a secondary profession with little investment in staff training. She urged the government to establish a centralized training institute under DGSE that serves both public and private educators and adheres to international best practices.<\/p>\n

Senators also addressed a disturbing harassment case at the H-8 special education center, where parents pulled their children out due to staff behavior. The DGSE confirmed the incident and said the children have since returned. CCTV cameras have now been installed across all special education institutions and hostels to improve safety.<\/p>\n

A key recommendation from the committee was the creation of a unified “one-stop shop” system to assist children with disabilities in accessing essential services. Currently, families are forced to navigate complex bureaucratic routes through multiple institutions to obtain disability certificates for job quotas. Often, these children are unfairly rejected with labels such as \u201cnot fit for work.\u201d The committee insisted that all required documentation and support should be available at the time of school admission.<\/p>\n

On a positive note, the DGSE announced that a \u201cCenter of Excellence for Autism\u201d project has been approved at a cost of 1.34 billion rupees and will be launched this year, in partnership with Punjab\u2019s Special Education Department and relevant NGOs.<\/p>\n

One of the most urgent reform proposals discussed involved early detection of disabilities. The committee proposed mandatory hearing screenings for children within their first six months of life. This would be integrated into existing vaccination records, ensuring that hearing and vision assessments become a standard part of early childhood care. The Ministry of Health was directed to act immediately and present an implementation plan at the next meeting.<\/p>\n

Accessibility issues were also discussed, particularly the lack of inclusive public transportation and disabled-friendly infrastructure in Islamabad. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) was instructed to ensure that new public buses and facilities include proper access features for individuals with disabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Panel Slams Mismanagement in Special Education: Empty Posts, Lapsed Funds, and Lack of Trained Staff Raise Alarm \u00a0Nadeem Tanoli \u00a0Islamabad: The Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training has sharply criticized the crumbling state of Pakistan\u2019s special education system, following a detailed briefing by the Directorate General of Special Education (DGSE). From …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,94],"tags":[1520,1519,1518,1522,1521,661,1517,1220,599,1516],"class_list":["post-4365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-fitness","category-pakistan","tag-autismsupport","tag-childrenwithdisabilities","tag-dgse","tag-disabilityrights","tag-educationmismanagement","tag-inclusiveeducation","tag-pakistaneducationreform","tag-publicaccountability","tag-senatepakistan","tag-specialeducationcrisis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4365"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4369,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4365\/revisions\/4369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}