**4. Status of inclusive education at the higher education level in Pakistan**

In Pakistan, inclusive education is still in its early stages, but several institutions are beginning to offer this type of education. The government is also working on developing policies and initiatives to promote inclusive education. While there are challenges that need to be addressed to make inclusive education more widely available, the potential benefits make it worth pursuing.

#### **4.1 Commitment of Pakistan towards inclusive education**

Inclusive education (IE) has been appearing as a significant theme in global educational policy, being a central component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a signatory to SDGs 2030, Pakistan has committed to IE since SDG 4 is fundamentally based on inclusionary education principles: 'Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all'. This goal aligns with articles 25 (Equality of all citizens) and 25-A (Right to Education) of the Constitution of Pakistan; Article 25 secures that all citizens are equal while Article 25-A guarantees that all students between the ages of 5–16 years old are provided with their fundamental right to education. The provincial education laws/acts correspond with these constitutional standards throughout all organs of the state. The education acts for Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pukhtonkhah Khah (KPK), clearly state that education facilities should not be segregated or denied to any child, and they forbid the exclusion of students from 'disadvantaged' backgrounds.

Along with the Balochistan Education Sector Plan 2013–2018 and the Punjab ECE Policy 2017, inclusive education is partially specified in the draught National Education Policy 2017 (which the current administration has unrestrained and is no longer applicable).

While these documents refer to inclusive education as avoidance of discrimination based on gender, abilities, cultural/ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, they do not provide details on what the terms 'inclusion' and/or 'inclusive education' mean.

#### *4.1.1 Provincial education*

Although inclusive education is mentioned in the provincial education sector plans of Punjab (2013–2017) and Sindh (2014–2018), it is mentioned concerning students with disabilities and a shift from 'special' to inclusive institutes. Despite using the term 'inclusive education', no clear definition has been provided for it in these

documents. Despite this lack of a formal definition, efforts have been undertaken to encourage inclusionary practices in Pakistan's educational institutions. All major political parties have incorporated reference to inclusive education (IE) for persons with disabilities in their electoral manifestos for General Elections 2018. In addition, investments have been made to support special education systems within the country.

#### **4.2 Laws, plans, and policies**

The National Education Policy 2017 also highlights the importance of inclusive education and gender equity in education among its goals. In addition to laws on education, there are also specific laws and policies at the national level for different vulnerable groups that promote inclusion.

According to Ref. [12], the Higher Education Commission ("HEC") is dedicated to the goal that no one in Pakistan should be denied access to higher education, which includes making sure that those with disabilities have equal access to and opportunities for higher education. This higher education institution's ("HEIs") policy for students with disabilities strives to:


### **5. Key challenges for inclusive education in Pakistan**

The National Curriculum from 2006 is still being used in Pakistan despite the 18th Amendment's provincialization of education in that country in 2010. Since this curriculum does not address the requirements of inclusive education, it is not included in the textbooks, learning materials, assessments or monitoring systems. Additionally, untrained staff and inadequate resources are considerable barriers to inclusive education. Although there is evidence of teachers displaying positive attitudes towards inclusivity in classrooms, they still lack training in methods of inclusive pedagogy.

One major obstacle to the inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Pakistan is the lack of consistent, reliable and comprehensive data about various vulnerable groups. The 2017 Population Census, which was carried out after 19 years rather than the required decade, provided very insufficient and hurried information on PWDs that was hotly contested.

There are many accessibility challenges for students with vision impairment on university campuses in Pakistan. Due to accessibility barriers in the physical infrastructure, they are having difficulty entering a variety of locations, including libraries, classrooms, the ground and cafeterias. They are unable to view the notice board owing to a vision issue, therefore they are unable to learn about future activities.

They are unable to read the writing on the whiteboard, thus they cannot take adequate notes during class lectures. Handouts from the class are unavailable to them because they are not in an accessible format. Due to the lack of available associated assistive technologies, they are unable to look for relevant study material online to improve their learning capacity. These obstacles and constraints eventually lead these students to restrict their studies to mainly theoretical courses in the

arts. It prevents them from entering the science and technology fields. Additionally, negative attitudes are some of the biggest barriers for visually impaired students in inclusive education at the higher education level. Many people are unprepared to communicate with visually impaired students because of their visual impairment. They believe that blind students cannot function in an inclusive environment at a higher education level because they lack the necessary skills, knowledge, acceptance and capacities.

At the higher education level, the greatest hurdle is the presence of untrained teachers in inclusive settings. Because students with visual impairment differ from other students, untrained teachers do not know how to treat them. There are also different learning styles, which makes it difficult for teachers to adapt lectures to each student's needs because unskilled teachers are unable to comprehend each student's abilities, capabilities and learning styles. However, when given support, visually challenged students may accomplish anything.

#### **5.1 Promising commitment of Pakistan**

Pakistan made extremely poor progress towards putting the true principles of inclusive education into practice until the middle of the 1980s. The government started paying close attention to the preparations for the education of the differently abled persons after the UN declared a ten-year special focus on individuals with disabilities in terms of their quality education, inclusion and rehabilitation between 1983 and 1992.

Pakistan has recognised its duty to offer its citizens an inclusive education free from all forms of discrimination as a signatory to all key human rights conventions, accords and treaties as the UNCRPD [13] and the Salamanca Declaration [14]. Despite this declaration and the commitments made in the province's special education programmes in the wake of the 18th amendment to the constitution, the inclusion of visually impaired students in mainstream institutions remains a pipe dream. These pupils are not anticipated to achieve their best in all areas of learning due to the inaccessibility of the study materials and the improper setup of the assistive technology.

### **6. Higher education and inclusive programme**

Because of this disability, visually impaired students rely heavily on the helper's skills. If their writing assistance is slow, they will need to make their description and explanation of their responses shorter. When it comes to conducting needs evaluations for the plans for inclusive programmes for students who are blind or visually impaired, higher education institutions in Pakistan are falling behind. They also lack the strong linkages to other state institutions needed to get policies that are based on reality and implement them fully. On the other hand, there is no solid working connection between the HEC, the ministry of education, and the institutions to execute inclusion by international agreements.

In industrialised countries, the majority of study disciplines have been made accessible for visually impaired students through the use of information and communication technology and other assistive equipment, but Pakistani universities are just starting to set up these resources.

Access to course materials is made difficult for visually impaired students at Pakistani universities by a number of factors [15]. Unfortunately, Pakistani schools for visually impaired students face a number of challenges and cultural barriers [16]. *Perspective Chapter: The Barriers in Inclusive Set-Up for Students with Visual Impairment… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109377*

#### **6.1 Accessibility hurdles and subject choice**

Hussain et al. [17] reported that 17% of them were studying political science, 8% were studying history, 7% were studying education, 5% were studying psychology, 5% were studying special education, and 5% were studying mathematics. Of those, 19% were studying Urdu literature, 19% were studying English literature, 19% were studying political science, and 8% were studying history. However, due to accessibility issues, none of them was pursuing studies in any natural discipline, including physics, chemistry, biology, computer science or mathematics.

#### **6.2 Accessibility hurdle at campus infrastructure**

The obstacles to accessibility: There are no accessible campus buildings, no accessible writing boards, no accessible reading materials, no accessible assistive technology and no accessible science subjects. Visually impaired students frequently mentioned that finding their classroom, library and cafeteria can be challenging. Their teachers usually become enraged when they arrive late for important lectures. In addition, they reported encountering numerous obstacles when searching for their classes on other upper floors. According to the visually impaired students, the university administration did not have a proper method for informing the blind students about any new construction that had begun on the campus. They had to overcome numerous obstacles to access their classrooms and move around the campus as a result of this unplanned activity. In addition, female visually impaired university students found campus accessibility to be a greater obstacle. They face numerous mobility issues on campus as a result of cultural and religious constraints. If a male visually impaired student needs to go somewhere, he can ask anyone who is passing by, but if a female visually impaired student needs to go there, she cannot ask a man for help.

#### **6.3 Notice board accessibility hurdles**

Visually impaired students frequently miss events without access to notice boards, and they are unable to take advantage of various opportunities for self-grooming by participating in various competitions like poetry competitions, writing competitions, debates, speeches and other similar events for gaining confidence. The announcements for various events that are regularly placed on the campus notice board are inaccessible to students with visual impairments.

#### **6.4 Writing board accessibility hurdles**

The majority of higher education institutions serve students with visual impairments who are unable to independently take notes during lectures in the classroom. They must ask their blind classmates to read aloud what their teacher has written on the board or whiteboard in class. It might be highly embarrassing for them when they annoy their sighted peers by interfering with their note-taking activities. Students with visual impairments feel at ease with teachers who write on the board while speaking. While the majority of visually impaired students normally hesitate, some of them are brave enough to ask their teacher to read what they wrote. Asking the teacher to read aloud what is being written on the whiteboard is necessary. Some teachers only write; sighted pupils can readily see and take notes on the whiteboard when this is the case.

Only a small number of visually challenged students have access to braille literature. Braille textbooks for higher education and screen displays are uncommon in Pakistan's higher education institutions.

#### *6.4.1 Efforts at higher education*

Higher education is a social process that involves a lot of interaction and aims to teach specific cognitive skills and provide relevant information. The learner's ability to interact with teachers, other students and higher education institutes administrators, as well as access information, is crucial to its outcome. For visually impaired students, current higher education practices are extremely detrimental on both counts.

Academic library staff struggles to use assistive technologies and tools and provide services to people with visual impairments due in large part to a lack of training. It was discovered that numerous devices have been developed but have not been tested on visually impaired users. Students with visual impairments have difficulty accessing information because it is not available in appropriate formats.

Readers and encoders services pose challenges for visually impaired students due to the reader's inability to read smoothly and clearly. In addition, visually impaired students may not always be able to correctly pronounce unfamiliar terms in readers. Students with print disabilities face major obstacles due to the arrangement of the exam environment and the examiner's inability to manage it. Because there are no public transportation options on campus, these students have trouble getting to and from classes. People with visual impairments primarily use their hands to identify their surroundings and use a cane to touch objects.

Students with visual impairments lacked support from teachers.

Teachers' primary emphasis on support was on receiving sufficient training in teaching, assisting and accommodating students with visual impairments. The classrooms in Pakistan are designed for sighted students, so students with visual impairments are not getting the specialised attention they needed to meet their visual needs.

Toilets, water, sound, ventilation, power, the library, computer rooms and the cafeteria are all very limited in their availability and accessibility. Classrooms are not attractively decorated. As a result, the institute's environmental conditions are not inclusive. Students with disabilities, like visual impairments, were not taken into account when designing the curriculum. As a result, instructional materials that were based on an inclusive curriculum were not prepared for students with visual impairments. Although the majority of teachers claimed to have modified the curriculum, no teachers from either higher education institutes were observed to have modified the curriculum to meet the curricular requirements of their students.

In addition, urban and rural institutes do not fully accommodate students with low vision in terms of social and academic accommodations, resulting in negative social and academic experiences for these students. In institutes, students with low vision are not adequately socially and academically supported, which contributed to their social and academic performance gaps.

#### **6.5 Initiative towards inclusive education**

In order to improve pre-service and in-service training, the National Plan of Action on EFA calls for developing teachers' ability for learner-centred pedagogies. Through a needs analysis to identify key development areas, such as management and administration, data collection and the information system, monitoring and

#### *Perspective Chapter: The Barriers in Inclusive Set-Up for Students with Visual Impairment… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109377*

evaluation, assessment and supporting the professional development of teachers, the education for all (EFA) plan of the Government of Baluchistan aims to improve the technical capacity of provincial and district education departments in governance.

Building education departments' capacity to promote inclusive education methods at a higher level was not mentioned. The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) outlines principles for instructional approaches that can meet the various learning requirements of pupils, including those who have impairments. The national curriculum framework includes a section on effective teaching and offers recommendations for various teaching and learning strategies that can better meet the needs of all learners, including those of students with disabilities. The framework articulates nine standards that describe what is expected of instructors. By describing the knowledge, attitudes and practises of instructors supporting the learning of students from varied backgrounds, including those with visual impairment, the standards promote disability-inclusive education.

