Making education accessible for Afghan refugee children with disabilities

Pakistan has been hosting Afghan refugees for over four decades. As more and more Afghan refugees are moving to urban areas of the country, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), they face challenges in accessing basic public services such as education and health. The situation becomes even more challenging for Afghan refugee children with disabilities who struggle with securing admission in special education institutes due to the unavailability of disability certificates.

For making public services accessible to Afghan refugees, the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees (CAR KP) has established three Urban Refugees Support Units (URSUs) in Peshawar, Haripur and Mardan. Supported by the German Development Cooperation, these Units provide referral services to urban Afghan refugees who are seeking assistance in accessing public services, including education, healthcare, livelihood opportunities, protection and repatriation.  

In Mardan, the URSU received several cases of Afghan refugee children with disabilities who were not able to get admission in special education institutes without a disability certificate. The education desk at the Unit started advocacy efforts with the concerned departments for revising the existing policies and allow enrolment of differently abled Afghan refugee children in special education institutes. As a result, the KP Government issued a notification on September 9, 2022, allowing the enrolment of differently abled Afghan refugee children into special education institutes regardless of the availability of a disability certificate.

This policy revision is a major step towards improving access to education for Afghan refugee children with disabilities.

Watch the video to learn more about it!