20m children unable to communicate in Pakistan

Former federal minister Senator Javed Jabbar has said that speech is the greatest invention of humanity and both speech and hearing are very important for communication as through this we are able to express our expressions.

He was addressing as a chief guest at the commemoration of 10 years of Ziauddin College of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences (ZCSLHS) at Ziauddin University. He congratulated Ziauddin University Vice Chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui for leading this college and for the remarkable success on completion of 10 years for education of such a specialized subject.

The College of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences celebrated the 10th Year of its foundation and an orientation ceremony for the new batch was held on Tuesday at the Ziauddin University. Those spoke on the occasion included Mehtab Akbar Rashdi, Dr Abdul Ghaffar Billoo, founding member of CSLHS, Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, and Amina Siddiqui, principal of CSLHS.

MPA Mehtab Akbar Rashdi congratulated the 10th batch of Ziauddin University and the faculty for completing 10 years. Parents do not realize the difficulties related to hear and speech of their children in the early years. Addressing to the students, she said "don't be discouraged by the dryness of this subject you should believe in yourself." She advised the students that this university is doing pioneer work and it is serving the society. You go out and serve the humanity and your country, she added.

Dr Abdul Ghaffar Billoo said that thousands of boys and girls don't have access to speech. More than 10 percent of our population has communication problems of speech or hearing. It means out of 200 million at least 20 million children are unable to communicate, and we haven't done anything for them.

Prof Pirzada Qasim informed the gathering that around two crore students in Pakistan haven't seen schools even. "People are waiting for students like you, you all are important. There are very few colleges of speech and hearing science in Pakistan. We had started this college with four units only, while now we have 13 units," he said. So far, this institution has provided treatment to about 7000 patients in Dr Ziauddin Hospital.

Earlier, Principal Amina Siddiqui in her welcome address thanked Dr Asim Hussain, the chancellor and patron of the CSLHS, who took this initiative.