In the name of kind God and greeting to all fans of the program supported by the Change in Life Compiegne; our current discussion is about the higher education and success of the people with disability in the universities and the guests that we are having with us are Ms. Benafsha Yaqoubi the Director of the Rahyab Blinds Empowering Organization, Haji Ahmad Shah Azami the manager of the CCD Organization, Mr. Ali Mohabati the Coordinator of the programs at the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan and Mr. Muhammad Sadeq Mohebi that activist regarding the rights of the people with disability.
Question: Mr. Mohebi; the 2013 motto under name of international day of the people with disability and other issue which is forcing on the equal access in the society; this motto was how much applicable in the society?
Answer: Greetings to all of you dear fans of the program; the international motto of this year which is mostly focusing on the easy access to all is designed based on the needs of the disabled community and the current year motto is also designed for this purpose.
You all know that 15 percent of the world population or 1 billion population of the world are facing with the disability problem which include physical and other types of the disability and this motto is designed that all the societies struggle for it to solve the problem.
It is to see that how much is this motto applicable in our country; I would like to say that there are some activities which are done regarding this motto but based on the number of the people with disability it is not sufficient.
Our programs for the physical access of the people with disability is continuously implemented by the institutions working for the disables; after this we are closing monitoring that in all buildings and institutions the physical access for all types of people with disability should be considered and this process is ongoing.
Regarding today’s discussion which is related to the educational issues of the people with disability it is to mention that in these centers the physical access for these people are rarely considered and regarding the curriculum for the people with disability also not a remarkable activity is done.
Question: Mr. Ahmadzai is one of the blind disabled and is asking a question from Ms. Benafsha; during the recent years too much money was ramped in the country, but for the blind disabled people neither in the schools nor in the universities the facilities are provided; what is the reason?
Answer: Greeting to all friends; regarding the question of my friend I would like to say that our office has struggled to do some activities based on the available facilities but these facilities are not sufficient and it needs further work. We are also asking this question from the relevant Ministries that so far what they have done but the fact is that we see the activities are very less as compare to the population of the people with disability.
Question: Mr. Mohabati; we and you are always listening to different mottos about the people with disability; please tell us that how much these mottos and activities were proven effective in the lives of the people with disability?
Answer: Greetings to all of you; I would like to mention that you have mentioned a very good topic; yes, we have always done something under different mottos and different activities and these activities are always been covered by the institutions working for the disabled communities but regarding the practical activities, nothing is done yet in this regard.
Unfortunately it is to mention that the topic of disability is less taken under practical consideration; if we only focus to today’s topic then it would be clarified that in the current situations about one hundred and ninety six thousand disabled children are under education process by these institutions and from the other side the law of the rights and facilities for the people with disability is explaining under the article 19th in this regard. Similarly in the article 24 of the convention of rights and facilities for the people with disability is forcing about the education of them.
Unfortunately I would like to mention that based on the investigation conducted in overall Afghanistan round about 3000 disabled children are taken in consideration for different learning programs; and based on the statistics this number is very less. From the other side most of these children are taken under coverage by non-governmental organization where the government has very little participation in this regard.
To the extent it is seen; currently the disabled children from different categories are facing a number of problems and in the governmental organizations there is no policy for the implementation of the articles of law.
One of the residents of our country is saying that why there are no rights considered for the mother born disabled; I would like to reply and say that unfortunately the law of the country has not given rights and facilities based on the fourth and eighth article and we have always struggled to solve this problem and our this lawsuit will continue until end. But I would like to say that the parliament of Afghanistan has tried to prepare the convention of the people with disability along with the institutions working for the disability community and based on the meetings that we had with them, they promised that the will work on the adjustment of this laws so that all the people with disability gets the equal rights and facilities.
Question: Mr. Mohabati; is this issue covered in the rights and facilities convention of the people with disability or not?
Answer: I would like to say that in the rights and facilities convention of the people with disability only the monetary facilities are not considered but also the other facilities are covered but in the rights and facilities convention of the people with disability all type of biases are prohibited and is against all the standards and international principles.
Question: Mr. Ahmad Shah Azami; in the law of facilities for the people with disability and also in rights and facilities convention for the people with disability; what is mentioned about the access to the education of the people with disability?
Answer: Greetings; regarding your question I would like to say that as the convention of the rights and facilities for the people with disability was a need; similarly the laws for the people with disability is important for all the disabled community of our country.
However the law for the facilities of the people with disability is prepared in three chapters and forty articles but based on the vision of the institutions working for the disabled community, there are some problems in this law; as mentioned before that under the article fourth and eighth as the mother born disabled are not included for facilities is itself a problem and is a point for discussion. Fortunately the convention of rights and facilities is against the bias with all types and categories of disability.
Question: One of the fans of the program who is also a mother born disable with the name of Hayatullah is asking that why the government is not taking care of their rights?
Answer: Regarding the question of our friend; I would like to say that we are also with the same opinion as you, based on the constitution of the country all the citizens of the country are having the same rights and they should deserve is the same.
Regarding this issue I would like to mention that the lawsuit committee has always struggled to solve this problem and in our previous meetings that we conducted we have started discussion on this topic and some of the governmental organizations promised that they will seriously focus to this issue and they will start discussion on the adjustment of the articles of this law.
Question: Ms. Yaqoubi; based on your views, until now what activities are considered for the education and higher education of the people with disability?
Answer: Obviously we cannot ignore the activities which are done for the education of the people with disability; one of the activities which is done in this regard is the creation of educational and technical department in the education Faculty for the people with disability.
From the other side the institutions working for the disabled community has also performed some activities and among them we can mention our own office; we have always tried that the training or teaching materials are converted from the other types to the Braille and the main reason behind this is that the people with disability easily could use it. But this activity based on the population of the disabled community that we have in our country is not acceptable and there should be more activities so that the people with disability could get their rights.
Question: Mr. Mohabati; is there any statistics about the disabled students who are studying in the universities?
Answer: Regarding your question I would like to respond that in the year 2004 a special faculty was established in the education university and currently 200 students are studying there. But in the other faculties a very less number of the people with disability are studying because the vision of the society is that the people with disability can only work but the fact is that the technical faculties are for the purpose that all the layers of the society should come and learn there and whatever they learn then they teach it in the other schools and training areas and the creation of this department caused that the people with disability not study in the other faculties.
Question: Mr. Mohebi; based on your opinion, are the people with disability facing problems for the access to the education and higher education?
Answer: There are some problems in different areas; there are not sufficient materials in the area of education for the people with disability, neither in gesture language nor in the Braille writing, lack of awareness in the society could be another reason, the teachers teaching in the schools are not aware about the rights of the people with disability and this lack of awareness caused that many children left behind from their educations. Absence of access to the buildings, problems in the entry tests, lack of availability of exam materials in the Braille writing or gesture language, lack of access to the desired faculties of the people with disability and also not letting most of the people with disability to join other professions, lack of talents is another problem, the programs of the Ministry of Higher Education are very few and the attracting of the people with disability towards the educational centers are also very rare.
Question: The department created in the Education University is only operating in the field of Education for the people with disability or it has teachings in other fields as well?
Answer: Regarding the department available under this faculty are very few in number and even it is not covering all the departments of the Education University.
Dear fans of the program; this was the program presented to you.
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