Screening of Children with Special Needs in Regular Primary Schools of District Gilgit, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Abstract

This study reveals facts of special needs children studying in regular primary schools in Gilgit District, Gilgit-Baltistan division in Pakistan. This research is conduct first time in the said region. The core object of this study was to identify the children who have disabilities in the age range of 3 to 9 years and they study in the normal schools in the mentioned region. The Ten Question (TQ) method was adopted to execute this research in the targeted normal schools. The researcher applied interviews method to get feedback on said research. The data was collected from parents and sibling in those situations when parents were not available to answer the questions. The analysis of collected data reflects that the ration of Learning Disability stands at 72.90% of all identified disable children which is the highest amongst other categories. The findings of this study reveals that Mental Retardation was 2.1% while children with Hearing Impaired was 1.1% in total identified children. Children facing Visual Impaired and Low Vision were 6.1%. This research analysis recommends to start awareness programs to initiate inclusive education as well as large scale services provision for disabled children. This initiative should be taken at both Governmental and community levels to address the issues of special children in Gilgit-Baltistan region.

Keywords: Disability; Handicap; Impairment; Screening; Survey; Ten Questionnaire (TQ)