Islamabad:The National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training has expressed serious concern over educational challenges faced by children with dyslexia, calling for effective implementation of the Dyslexia Act and dedicated budgetary allocations to provide them with appropriate academic support.
The 27th meeting of the committee was held at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Islamabad under the acting chairmanship of Dr. Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro, MNA.
The committee emphasized that children with dyslexia should not be deprived of educational opportunities due to the absence of proper identification, institutional support and remedial interventions.
It stressed the need for appropriate academic facilitation across different subjects, particularly Mathematics, according to the individual learning needs of affected children.
The committee also decided to raise the matter in Parliament to advocate necessary accommodations and relaxations in curricula, assessments and examinations, ensuring that children with dyslexia are not disadvantaged in securing admission to higher education institutions.
It further stressed that the Ministry of Federal Education should allocate dedicated funds in its regular budget for recruiting and training remedial therapists, psychologists and specialized teachers.
The committee was informed that the National Institute of Psychology (NIP), a Centre of Excellence at Quaid-i-Azam University, was collaborating with the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) to establish a structured remedial support system for children with dyslexia in Islamabad schools.
The initiative will be implemented in five phases, beginning with mobilization and vetting, followed by screening, assessment and profiling, scheduled for completion by December 2026.
The third phase, involving individualized remedial therapy, will run from January 2027 to February 2028. The fourth phase, aimed at establishing sustainable support systems, will be implemented from March to May 2028, followed by the final evaluation and closeout phase from May to June 2028.
The committee was also briefed on the National Dyslexia Diagnostic Tool, which assesses children across four major areas: cognitive and perceptual-motor abilities, language and phonological skills, social-emotional development, and child problem indicators.
The assessment tool is intended to identify learning difficulties and help formulate remedial interventions according to individual requirements.