Radha Desai travels from Shelvan with her 12-year-old grandson Yashraj to Curchorem to attend special school with him from 8.30 am to noon. She enjoys doing it as she has been witnessing positive changes in him.“Yashraj is a slow learner. He couldn’t even walk until early this year. Thanks to the skilled teachers who could communicate with him and train him, now he’s taking baby steps. Earlier he couldn’t even utter a word but now he even repeats a few words,” says a happy Radha who never ever dreamed that her grandson could achieve these simple life skills.
Geeta Shahapurkar from Shelde shares similar joy, as she sees visible improvement in her seven-year old Swvet. From Vagona, Vaishali Gaonkar's six-year-old Shree now pronounces his own name. A mother from Sanguem Babita Nagekar confides that her eight-year-old daughter Varsha is visibly impaired while Viniksha Kuttikar’s four-year-old daughter Vidaswi takes regular lessons of speech therapy. Viniksha travels from Barajan Bhati in Sanguem to Bambolim once a week for treating her bedridden daughter and attends the school daily. “Nausheen has hearing problem,” says her mother Ayesha. All of them are happy that their children are introduced all types of training and therapies which would make life easy for them. They are all proud parents, not ashamed of their differently abled kids.All this has been happening thanks to the people at Chetna Education Society in Curchorem.
“Considering intense urgency of this school and rehabilitation centre for these children from the nearby vicinity, we had to start our school in June this year in a rented premises (provided at concessional price by Sandesh Kakodkar) as our proposed school complex on 10,200 sq mt land at Curchorem is under construction,” explains Keshav aka Raju Naik, chairperson, Chetna Charitable Trust which started Chetna Education Society and its special school.
“As of now we have 34 children all between the ages 03-39 registered with us and the admissions are open,” says special educator Rubia Naik Kakodkar, adding, “There are around 1411 mentally as well as physically handicapped persons in Sanguem and Quepem according to 2011 census. We are trying to impart life skills to those who wish to join our school.”
Indeed, it is difficult for some parents to accept that theirs is a child with special needs but keeping him or her at home does not solve the problem. “Our school provides three vehicles to bring the kids from 30 km radius to school. The uniform, craft material, sports material and mid-day meals are free. There are no admission fees. We spend Rs 1.50 lakh each month on these expenses, all from our resources. All this in hope that these gifted kids be provided opportunities to develop their skills. If we could use their skills for purpose, their life would be more fruitful,” feels Raju who with a group of dedicated 30 like-minded persons formed Chetna Charitable Trust in 2009, with the sole aim of uplifting the specially-abled children.
The school has been sowing hopes and little surprises spread a smile of joy and contentment on the faces of parents and teachers as well. “Eight-year-old Bhavika has musical inclinations and after joining our school she is now perfecting her singing skills,” states piano teacher Bernandina Vales who has been a music teacher at Pilar Music School.
“A leap has been taken and there is no looking back now,” promises Raju, a culturally and socially active person who also founded Sankalp Theatre Cultural Association 14 years ago and the funds for his special school were raised through shows and donation coupons. “We spent Rs 30 lakh on land. The first phase would cost Rs 4.53 crore and we are hoping to complete it by December next year. The total cost of this ambitious project is Rs 9.66 crore,” he shares. Apart from classrooms the project would house centres for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, outdoor and indoor sports facilities, hostel, pool, garden, kitchen as well as room for parents.
The special children are taught to focus on what they have and never look at what they don’t have. The trust has taken up the challenge to enhance their inbound skills in the field of education, sports, art and other extracurricular activities so that they are self-reliant and can live independently.
