President Dr. Arif Alvi on Tuesday underscored the significance of mass awareness about special requirements of persons with different abilities and equipping them with education and living skills for their meaningful integration into society. He was speaking during the visit of the Society for Children in Need of Special Assistance (SCINOSA) Day Home – an institute for individuals with Down syndrome and other mental challenges – along with the First Lady Samina Arif Alvi. The president emphasized that children with different abilities, were part of the society and equipping them with living skills could enable them to lead a meaningful life and perform daily chores at their own. He also stressed the need for creating special employment opportunities for differently-abled persons in accordance with their capabilities and teaching them the specific skills, required for those jobs. “Approach towards children with different abilities has been changing across the globe with the emphasis on their enrollment in routine schools and we in Pakistan as well need to step forward and work together for breaking the taboos and social stigma, attached to mental and physical challanges,” he noted. Federal and Sindh governments have made laudable progress in that regard by reserving special quota for differently-abled persons in public sector jobs while the banking sector was also inducting special persons, Dr. Alvi said adding that Governor SBP and heads of different banks had also assured of additional steps in that regard in a recent meeting on inclusion and empowerment of special persons and women. The president said that mass awareness might play a key role in changing social perceptions and conduct and that was witnessed during the special campaign on breast cancer. The awareness initiatives including text and voice messages on symptoms and prevention reached millions of people across the country, which led to saving hundreds of lives, he added. Dr. Arif Alvi specially mentioned the efforts of First Lady Samina Arif Alvi for raising mass awareness regarding breast cancer and differently-abled children and said that now she was working on mental health issues. The president also appreciated SCINOSA for providing special care and training to differently-abled children and teaching them basic life skills. Honorary secretary SCINOSA Zulfiqar Ali Ramzi, speaking on the occasion, said that realizing the fact that with special care and awareness children with different abilities, could lead their lives and added SCINOSA Day Home was imparting all necessary skills to them. Principal SDH, Rizwana Khanum briefed that major objective of the Society was to establish a platform for teaching and training of children with different types of difficulties, to help them become self-sufficient and value-adding members. Earlier, President Dr. Arif Alvi, visited different parts of the institute to inspect facilities for the education and training of differently-abled children and interacted with the special students who were busy at work either in learning classes, vocational activities or sports. President Dr. Arif Alvi, also planted a sapling at SCINOSA Day Home on the occasion.