KARACHI : President Dr. Arif Alvi emphasized the need of raising awareness of the unique requirements of people with varying abilities and providing them with education and life skills so they may integrate into society in a meaningful way.
Speaking alongside First Lady Samina Arif Alvi, the president was discussing the visit to the Society for Children in Need of Special Assistance (SCINOSA) Day Home, an organization for people with Down syndrome and other mental health issues.
The president stressed that children with various capacities were members of society and that giving them life skills would help them be able to live independently and take care of everyday tasks.
Additionally, he emphasized the importance of giving people with disabilities access to unique work opportunities that are tailored to their abilities and that teach them the particular skills needed for such positions.
The way that the world views children with disabilities is evolving, with a focus on getting them enrolled in regular schools. He said that Pakistan must also take the initiative and band together to break the taboos and social stigma associated with mental and physical disabilities.
Dr. Alvi noted that the banking industry was also hiring special people, and that the federal and Sindh governments had made commendable strides in this area by reserving special quotas for people with disabilities in public sector jobs. She also mentioned that, at a recent meeting on the inclusion and empowerment of special people and women, Governor SBP and the heads of various banks had promised additional steps in this direction.
According to the president, a specific campaign on breast cancer demonstrated how important it is for the general public to be informed of the disease in order to influence social attitudes and behavior. He continued by saying that hundreds of lives were saved as a result of nationwide awareness campaigns that included text and audio messages about symptoms and prevention that were received by millions of people.
Dr. Arif Alvi specifically mentioned First Lady Samina Arif Alvi’s efforts to increase public awareness of breast cancer and children with disabilities, adding that she was currently focusing on mental health concerns.
The president also expressed gratitude to SCINOSA for educating children with disabilities the fundamentals of life skills and for offering them specialized care and training.
Speaking at the event, Honorary Secretary SCINOSA Zulfiqar Ali Ramzi stated that the organization was teaching the children with disabilities all the skills they needed to live their lives, realizing that they could do so with extra care and understanding.
Principal SDH Rizwana Khanum gave a briefing, outlining the organization’s main goal of creating a training and educational environment for kids with various challenges so they can grow up to be independent and valuable contributors to society.
President Dr. Arif Alvi had earlier visited several areas of the institute to assess the facilities for the education and training of children with disabilities and engaged with the special pupils who were hard at work in their classrooms, vocational training, or sports.
At the event, President Dr. Arif Alvi also planted a sapling at SCINOSA Day Home.
