Background

Over 1 million profoundly deaf school-age children reside within Pakistan, with a literacy rate that is greatly behind their hearing peers. The result is less than 5% of Pakistani children who are deaf attend school and become literate. The issue is compounded by a lack of access to educational resources for children who are deaf and the inability of parents to foster PSL (Pakistan Sign Language) in the home. Deaf students do not widely have access to high quality Special Education schools, nor good education, and this results in as high as 80% unemployment among persons with disabilities.

Project

HCI will implement a student scholarship program and educational resource program in concurrence to improve access to education and the strength of available resources for students who are deaf. Students who are severely/profoundly deaf from underprivileged socioeconomic backgrounds will have access to education including specialty and life skills development and direct access to experts in PSL. 

The same cohort of students will be supported over 3 consecutive years. 

This project will also strengthen Pakistan Sign Language through the digitization of content (curriculum, filming, and interpreting to be shared with schools, students, and teachers across Pakistan. This content will be critically accessible via distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

What Your Donation Means

Donation will support 300 students who are deaf and from low-income families as they pursue their education. Your donations will also help implement instruction in Pakistani Sign Language (PSL) as well as life-skills training via in-person instruction and distance learning when necessary. Investments will also be made to digitize PSL learning resources. 

Part of ensuring children's success is equipping the parents and the family with the training and resources required to assist their children. 

Sustainable Development Goals

This project primarily supports SDG 8 which promotes ‘full and productive employment allowing persons with disabilities to fully access the job market’; SDG 10 is also supported by ‘emphasizing the social and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities[1]; SDG 17 is also emphasized by ensuring that data is disability disaggregated and by promoting dissemination of created PSL resources to other schools, teachers and students. SDG 5 is addressed through special attention paid to recruiting female students, reducing stigma for co-education especially in rural areas and promoting hiring female teachers. 

NOTICE:

No tax receipts shall be issued for donations to this campaign.