I'm not sure about the claim of the officials for being the oldest school. However the World-Bank 2007 report on disability in India also mentioned about this school as the oldesd for the blind in India. It would be an interesting inquiry researchers need to undertake to find which school was the oldest. Mr Miles research informed us that we had blind teachers in 17th and 18 centuries as well. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/Indias-oldest-school-for-visually-impaired-continues-lighting-up-lives/articleshow/48320619.cms DEHRADUN: Not many know that the valley is home to the oldest school for the visually impaired in the country — the Sharp Memorial School for the Blind, tucked away at the farthest end of Rajpur Road.
The picturesque location of the school at the Himalayan foothills is a reminder of nature's beauty which everyone else can see, but not the students, who are taught the written word through the help of Braille to be able to get a chance to lead a near-normal life. Over the years, the school has come to occupy a vital role in the lives of those it has touched. "Our daughter has been visually impaired since she was two years old. We had heard a lot about this institute and decided to shift to Doon for our daughter," says Anita Bhatt, eyes brimming with tears. Bhatt arrived at the city from Pithoragarh a week ago to get her daughter Manisha, now 9, admission at the school. The present superintendent of the school, P M Samuel, took over in 1986 when it was on the verge of closing down due to financial constraints. "When I was asked to take over by the board members, I was hesitant. In hindsight, I feel it was a good decision. We were able to keep the school running despite the funds crunch. We intend to continue as long as we can," he says. Sharp Memorial currently has 109 visually impaired students. Earlier known as the North India Industrial Home for the Blind, it has a history dating back to the 1880s. Miss Hewlett, an Anglican missionary, lost her sight after measles as a child but recovered it after a year. She resolved to help other visually impaired children. She requested her friend Annie Sharp to get special training in Britain and come to India to teach. The school was officially founded in 1887 by Sharp at the compound of St Catherine Hospital, Amritsar, where Hewlett was working. It shifted to Dehradun, considered to have a healthier climate, in 1903. Ten days after it shifted to the city, Sharp died of cholera. Her family continued supporting the school. In 1930, they handed it over to a missionary group, the Bible and Medical Missionary Fellowship (BBMF), which changed the name to Sharp Memorial School. Today, Samual along with his wife Sumana and sixteen other staff members continue to teach girls and boys from primary classes up to class VIII. Many of the teachers are former students. "Education is imparted in Braille. Children who have some residual vision are also taught to read print like normal students. Some students with vision from nearby areas are also studying with us at the moment," says Samuel. Besides academics, the school also runs BEd courses under IGNOU. It started a post-graduate diploma course in special education in 2004. Young ones are taught with toys and puzzles at the beginning before progressing to Braille in senior classes. Many are even taught the usage of computers through Braille-specific software. Snehlata Singh, in her 60s now, came to the school as a child but her father left her and never returned to fetch her. "I have been in this school for almost all my life and I will continue teaching here till I breathe my last. I don't have sight, but this school has taught me that for vision one just needs eyes in one's soul and a strong will. This is what we teach these special children," she says. -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
