When you were going for your Matric exams, you must’ve heard your parents say “Why don’t you do as good as that kid” or “If you top the board exam i’ll buy you that”.

But the story of Faisal Malik, a disabled kid from Abbotabad, shows that despite all the handicaps in life, one person’s dedication and motivation can make all the difference.

Faisal has recently topped the Board exams in Abbotabad.

The Story of Faisal Malik

Faisal Malik from Abottabad achieved the first position in Abbotabad Matric Board, despite having physical disabilities. Against all odds he made his parents proud and proved that if you put in the effort to achieve your goal, you can achieve anything.

Situation for the Disabled in Pakistan

Currently there are no facilities and services available for disabled persons in education, healthcare and other services in Pakistan. Brilliance and talent thus goes un-recognized among the disabled people.

The government’s budget allocation for education sector itself is one of the lowest, which decreased from last year’s Rs. 109.3 billion to Rs. 108.9 billion for the fiscal year 2016-2017.

There has been no official census since the 1998 census which did not correctly categorize people with disabilities.

According to a survey conducted by Helping Hand for Relief and Development in 2012, 2.65% of the population have some sort of disability. Going by this statistic, the number of disabled persons in Pakistan is currently more than 5 million individuals.

Moving forward

The government should assist Faisal with his higher studies. Its obvious that an achiever like him should be extended all the necessary help and support, financial or otherwise, to achieve his goals in life. In addition to that they should help his family to treat his disability.

Taking Faisal’s case as an example, the government needs to roll out more initiatives for the disabled.