Mrs. Bhatt,
I understand from your feelings that you had a bad experience while getting
your child admit in to a Mainstream School.
Like almost every aspect of our life, we may confront difficulty in the
mainstream schools too, however, I would not deny the fact that there are
many good schools where the Visually Impaired students do get admissions and
are well nurtured by the teachers.
I did my schooling from mainstream School and completed 12th in 2001 from
Delhi. But never got such complain from my School side.
If you are in Delhi, there are plenty of Schools.
In case you are looking for a good school in Delhi for your Son and still
facing challenges, do let me know. we will try to refer you some Schools in
Deli.
Regards,
Amit Bhatt
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anjina Bhat" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 3:10 PM
Subject: [AI] main stream
Hi again to all of you . This is anjina Mother of visually handi cap
mother . This is burning topic and i can very well imagine how bad and
emabarrassing it is for a mother whose child is being thrown away from
Main stream school
I believe that every child has a gift and every child has disability
if we compensate gift with disability we can take best out from them ?
but who cares ? we have big big laws but they are on papers , who
inspects whether they have been followed or not / I believe that it
had become mandatory for schools to keep special educator but who sees
that whether that has been followed or not ,,,,,,,,,,,, you will see
few schools where the special educators are hired rest no one cares
I am sorry if i am hurting any body sentiments but there are many
organisations who are fighting for this but on practical grounds no
body is fighting for cause . We have big big laws but on papers social
sensitisation is not there .with threat of law you shall get
admission for your child but who sees how he is being treated there
because when social sensitation is not there nothing can be done
........... Lot of funds goes to special schools but if you see their
infra structure it is pathetic .... I have a very sorry figure for
this ..
But as a parent i shall request each parent to please stand up and
fight back , donot stop here donot get disturbed by this . all
children are god gifted and if god has not drawn any line who are we
to draw . please stand up and fight back . lets show that every thing
is possible we can show miracles with our child . every child is
special . lets sensitise this so called bad world
I want to share my example where that i have also struggled lot for my
admission of my son and one so called big school called my name out of
400 parents during interview that the school is inadequate for
admitting my son . but there answer never disturbed me nor moved or
shaken my confidence , I replied ...... if you are inadequate that is
your problem not mine i think you need another 10 yrs to reach my
sons level................ so please have confidence dont worry find
solutions . Mothers can move the world , it was thomas Elva edison's
mother"s guts who taught his son at home and made him big scientist
with whose light whole world is lighten so be brave lets togetherly
fight this cause
On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 2:31 PM, Vaishnavi Jayakumar
<[email protected]> wrote:
dnaindia.com
http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report_kids-with-disabilities-dont-need-no-special-education_1578003
Published: Sunday, Aug 21, 2011 By *Anu
Prabhakar<http://www.dnaindia.com/authors/anu-prabhakar>
* | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
Kids with disabilities don't need no special education
In 2004, Latika Sargar’s dream for her eldest son seemed to fall apart.
Sachin, who has mild mental retardation, was thrown out of a government
school for repeating a class thrice.
“They asked me to take him to a special school at a far off place in
Malad,”
says Sargar, who lives in a one-room shack in Andheri. “I could not take
him
there.”
Sachin has two younger siblings. “My husband told me we must educate them,
and could not afford to educate Sachin,” recalls Sargar. They decided to
keep the child at home. For three years, Sachin’s main tasks involved
taking
care of his siblings, helping out with the household chores or simply
walking on the streets with hands buried in his pockets, smiling at no one
in particular. “I felt very sad. My younger children were studying well
and
it was my dream to send Sachin to a school, too. But I did not have a
choice,” says Sargar.
*It’s a birthright
*Sayali Masurkar came to Sachin’s rescue. Married with kids, she admits
there were certain hiccups at home regarding her job as a social worker.
“But I was sure I wanted to do only this,” says Masurkar. The Persons with
Disabilities Act was passed in 1995 (with an aim to ensure that children
with disabilities have access to free education in an appropriate
environment till 18 years of age). Masurkar was one of the first few
people
to get a copy of the Act in 1996, even before it was circulated to
schools.
She took copies of it and went to schools that denied a child admission to
argue the cases.
She came to know about Sachin’s case in March 2008 and helped him get an
admission in a mainstream school within three months. “It is possible to
educate a child with mild disabilities in mainstream schools, where they
belong,” asserts Masurkar. “Only then can they can be integrated into
mainstream society.”
*Concept on paper
*Inclusive education — where the whole environment of a mainstream school
is
attuned to the needs of a child with any kind of a disability and every
one
is made aware of his/her special requirements — is not a new concept. The
1995 Disabilities Act calls for access to free education in an appropriate
environment, which could also mean a mainstream school. Translating the
idea
into action called for years of hard work. Even if children did make it to
schools, the focus lay on curbing the dropout rate.
It is the children in rural India who suffer the most due to lack of
awareness about inclusive education. Rajendra K R, regional representative
of Leonard Cheshire Disability International South Asia Regional Office
(based in Bangalore) argues that most parents, teachers and education
departmental heads are not even very aware of the Act and its provisions.
“Children with disabilities in rural India do not even have the disability
identity card. How can we except the government to ensure that the
provisions of the Act are made accessible to people?” asks Rajendra. He
insists that “the current educational system is not equipped to deal with
the issues of children with disabilities.” The reasons: children with
learning disabilities being out of school or dropping out, inefficient
teachers, a lack of trained human resources in government institutions and
an evaluation or monitoring system that is not disabled-friendly.
*Making it possible
*Sukanya Venkataraman is the Principal of Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan
Centre for Special children in Belapur. “I think only 1 per cent of
schools
in Mumbai actually follow inclusive education. I remember an autistic
child
who came to me once after being denied admission in a mainstream school.
He
was talking to me about water preservation and how he would devise a way
for
it!”
Education specialists have been sceptical over the success of the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan (a programme that aimed to achieve the goal of
universalisation of elementary education of satisfactory quality by 2010).
However, Sudhir Khochare, Coordinator, SSA, insists that an overwhelming
majority of children go to schools now. “There may be exceptions, but 90
per
cent of children in Mumbai go to school.” Venkatesh Malur, education
specialist, UNICEF, too, agrees that the number of children in enrolling
in
mainstream schools have gone up in the past five years. “School toilets
are
more spacious, there are railings for support in schools, for children
with
special needs,” he explains.
Sherly Abraham, National Coordinator, Leonard Cheshire Disability,
however,
feels otherwise. “Accessibility is one area that we have scope for
improvement. Schools are admitting more children with special needs, but
they often don’t have the right infrastructure in place. The government
should take the initiative to implement these at least in municipal
schools.
Other schools will then follow.”
*Case study
How a school made it click*
Beacon High School in Khar, Mumbai, has eight to 10 special educators and
admits students with all kinds of disabilities — except the profoundly
challenged. “Children with special needs are seated in a class according
to
their age. They sit in the same class as others and take part in the same
extra curricular activities,” says KS Jamali, principal.
“We have children who are slow learners and autistic. We even had a
wheelchair-bound child, who had cerebral palsy,” she adds.
Jamali feels that more schools must open up to the idea. “Schools use the
excuse that they don’t have the infrastructure to start admitting such
children in their school. But what do I have? I don’t even have a ramp!”
Each special needs child is put on a syllabus that is specifically
designed
by a special educator, explains Rukshan Vakil, psychologist at the school.
Depending on the severity of their disability, they are also given
one-on-one classes.”
Basti, in UP, is known to be an educationally backward district. But
Shikshit Yuva Sewa Samiti, a charitable trust, has been working towards
making physically and mentally challenged population literate. “Many kids
with special needs enroll in mainstream schools,” explains Gopal Krishna
Agarwal, Director, SYSS. He, however, admits that in terms of quality
services, they still have a long way to go as schools still do not offer
proper facilities to retain them.
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