Dr. Abdul Tawwab Khan and Mrs. Perveen Tawwab started their life long volunteer work for special children after they saw the mother of a child with Downs Syndrome break down and cry. What started as a pledge to support a girl with special needs and her family, has grown into an NGO serving thousands of families and their special children. Dr. and Mrs. Abdul Tawwab Khan represent a progressive and visionary struggle for empowerment of persons with special needs. They have illuminated the lives of thousands of persons with special needs and their families across Pakistan over since 1984.

Having started as a school for special children, Rising Sun Education and Welfare Society has grown into an organization offering diverse services covering the entire life span of people with special needs. Through various projects it provides early intervention services for children from birth to pre-school age, structured teaching, training and therapeutic services to school age children with special needs and vocational training to adolescents and adults with special needs. Those unable to gain employment in open market, are also provided with sheltered employment opportunities. The Gosha-e-Afiyat (Sheltered Home & Sheltered workshop) project is providing a safe living facility to people with special needs who lose family support. The Rising Sun is also running a community-based rehabilitation program to reach out to the population with special needs.

 

Dr. Abdul Tawwab Khan realized from his experience that existing special education institutions were unable to cater to all the students with special needs. In 2009, he started an initiative to raise awareness about diversity among teachers in general education schools. His vision was that if teachers in regular schools were given training in special needs and inclusive education most of the students with diverse needs could be accommodated in the general education classrooms. Over the years, the Rising Sun has trained hundreds of public and private school teachers from various provinces.

Misha Lobban Clark wrote in an article that social activists and social change leaders leave their “social imprint” as a legacy. What they do for the good of their people, specially marginalized groups of society, out lives them. Dr Khan passed away in 2016 but his vision continues to guide us. Mrs. Perveen Tawwab is relentlessly leading Rising Sun towards the course set by Dr. Abdul Tawwab Khan.

The government of Pakistan has recognized the services of Mrs. Perveen Tawwab with a Sitara-i-Imtiaz and of Dr. Abdul Tawwab Khan with a Tamgha-i-Imtiaz.