good news Special school that fills their hours with laughter SAKAR in Hisar has been imparting life skills to special children without any aid from the state government. By Deepender Deswal Social activist Shobha Nehru Their spontaneous acts, sudden dance moves and abrupt bursting into laughter bring to life the atmosphere in the backyard of the small school. A group of around 20 children with special intellectual ability are in a playful mood under the shining sun, beating drums and singing songs. These children owe these precious moments to Shobha Nehru, a eunuch and a local social activist, who provided them with the spacious building. Over the last two years, the school has become a second home to these children and Shobha a mother figure. SAKAR was set up by the Hisar Welfare Society for Mentally Handicapped Children in 1993 on the initiative of Kantamani Gupta, a college professor, who felt the need for such a school for her 10-year-old daughter. Support group She approached some local people to come forward to establish a school for special children. A group of around 18 people, including lawyers, doctors, businessmen and social activists, formed the society, headed by Babu Shukhdev Agrawal, an advocate. Special kids at SAKAR, Hisar. Photos: Banshi Lal Basniwal The school operates without any financial aid from the government. The society members pool in their funds and collect donations from volunteers. The school charges a fee of Rs 100 from parents and has waived fee for those who are unable to pay. Initially, the school operated from a temple, but had to be shifted as the temple authorities needed the area for religious activities. Rishi Saini, a society member, says: “After setting up the school, we approached the then Bhajan Lal government in the mid-90s. We also met the local MLA Savitri Jindal in 2005 regarding some land. But the district administration failed to provide any place for the school, though it did set up a similar school which is being run by the District Red Cross Society. We did not want to close down our school as around 20 children were regularly attending it.” Shobha says she had built a school for the poor. “The society asked me if it could use the building to run a school for special children and I welcomed the initiative. I feel proud to see the happy faces of these children. Their laughter reverberates in the school. They just need love and care,” she says. Learning is fun Head-teacher Deepika says: “We have four teachers and a helper for the children. We teach them to speak in a cohesive manner, greet people and memorise their addresses and names, and also those of their parents and town, etc. They are taught mind games as per their abilities. They enjoy singing, beating drums and dancing. These activities help in improving their mental abilities and social awareness.” Shilky is the oldest pupil in the school while Mayank and Vansh are the youngest at eight years. Krishna Devi, a teacher associated with the school for over a decade, says: “They are like my children. They make an effort to learn new things. They listen to the instructions of the elders and their parents, which is a big change for them.” Abhiskek Agrawal, a lawyer and member of the society, says the society disburses the salaries of the staff from donations. “We have no large expenses and have sufficient donors to bear these expenses,” he says. Shobha, a three-time councillor, is a philanthropist and has been working for disadvantaged sections of society like the girl-child and special children. She has built three schools through donations. Primary schools being run by her at Nehru Nagar and Bhagat Singh Nagar have around 600 students. Kultar Singh Malik, father of Keshav Malik, the first special child to win the Bhim Award for sports, feels the government needs to come up with a special education policy for these children. “It’s a welcome step on behalf of the government to include them under its sports policy. But infrastructure and facilities need to be developed to impart special training to these children. There is a shortage of trained staff in the state. About 3 per cent of the total children’s population belongs to this section. It is important to create facilities for supporting such children and their parents,” he adds.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 07:35:31 +0000
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