LAHORE: The Punjab Special Education Department has ordered a door-to-door survey to identify children with special educational needs and help increase their enrolment in special education institutions across the province. The five-day campaign is aimed at finding children who may not currently be receiving specialised educational support.
Under the initiative, heads of special education institutions will collect information about children with special needs living in their respective areas. The information will help officials identify children who may qualify for admission to special education schools and connect them with appropriate educational services.
Teachers and non-teaching staff of special education institutions will participate in the field exercise. Officials may also use school transport to reach different localities and make the survey more accessible across communities.
The department has directed officials to complete the survey within five days. During the process, teams will collect information about identified children and record geo-tagged photographs as part of the documentation process.
The initiative is expected to help the provincial government develop a more complete record of children requiring specialised educational support. Accurate information about their location and educational needs could also help authorities plan admissions, allocate resources and expand the reach of special education services.
The move comes amid a broader need to improve access to education for children with disabilities in Pakistan. National data show that millions of school-age children live with disabilities, while specialised education institutions currently serve only a portion of them. In Punjab, thousands of children are enrolled in special education schools, but coverage remains limited compared with the estimated number of children who may require support.
The door-to-door exercise could therefore provide the department with valuable grassroots-level data and help identify children who may otherwise remain outside the formal education system.
Officials hope that the survey will ultimately support higher enrolment, better educational planning and improved access to specialised services for children with additional educational needs across Punjab.
