Kathmandu, October 1:

Children with disabilities today handed over a replica of a mural to the Minister for Education and Sports Pradeep Nepal.

Children prepared the 7x15 inch mural with the theme of Equal Rights to Education which was organised with support of Save the Children Norway. Nepal put his signature on the left corner of the mural.

The children had handed over the original mural to Speaker Subas Nembang and it hangs in the conference hall of the Parliament Secretariat.

“People’s perception towards disabled people has been embedded in our culture for years and we are not very hopeful that the scenario would change soon,” Nepal said.

He confessed that there is no provision of special education for the disabled due to lack of resources.

An estimation by the Save the Children Norway puts the number of disabled Nepali children at 1.3 million and says that most of them are neglected and remain deprived of their rights and opportunity.

“Even educated persons with disabilities face discrimination,” said Nepal, adding: “I recommended teachers with physical disability to certain schools, but they were rejected,” he said.

He said there is a need of a cultural revolution to change the perception of people regarding disability of a person. “We know it is unreasonable, but it still exists in our society,” he said.