By Sha Nigar | Manager Marketing
Dear Donors, Friends and Well-wishers of The Association of People with Disability (APD).
We are glad to submit to you the report of our Education Program for Children with Disabilities.
Thanks to GlobalGiving community for your generous support for educating the children with disability. The donation raised through GlobalGiving website helped us to provide mid-day meals, books, uniforms, healthcare, transportation, Hearing aids and special coaching supplement to children with disability. Their medical rehabilitation, an integral part of their development, is ensured through regular medical check ups, physiotherapy and use of mobility aids.
The Education Programme at APD aims at promoting inclusive education through focused institutional and district programs and networking with government agencies, NGOs, special and mainstream schools
The Shradhanjali Integrated School (SIS) of APD has 325 children on roll, for the Academic Year 2023. These children are from under privileged segment .The school aims in helping these children join mainstream schools after giving the support required. This is a day school and we have two buses that pick up children every morning and drops them back home. The focus at SIS is on activity-oriented learning. The school offers a good resource center and library. Co – curricular activities like painting, quiz competitions, sports, cultural festivals, and arts and crafts ensure all round development.
Some of the major activities during the last seven months are given below for your kind information.
Key Highlights from the month of June to December 2022
SHRADHANJALI INTEGRATED SCHOOL REVIEW -2022
The year 2022 was a busy one at Shradhanjali Integrated School (SIS) packed with numerous activities to engage and nurture the 280 children currently studying in the school. SIS too like the rest of the world was happy to return back towards normalcy post the COVID pandemic restrictions that were there in 2020 & 2021. The Management, Teachers and Staff were excited to welcome the children back to school and resume all the activities with enthusiasm and vigor.
Training – Trainings were targeted towards three main target groups – Teachers, Parents & Children.
Teachers training was conducted in order to enhance and refresh their understanding about the learning process, learning outcomes, and implementation of lesson plans for effective class room transaction. New teachers also attended training programmes on Indian Sign Language to empower them to better communicate with the children. Teachers also received training on Goonjan software – the tools available and the optimum methods to use the software accurately.
The importance of training of parents cannot be stressed enough and hence there were sessions organized for them on Indian Sign Language to enhance and improve their communication skills and interaction with their children. Since it is vital for parents to be part of the academic journey of their children, we also had sessions for the parents regarding the curriculum followed, academic and other activities planned for the children, examinations, performance appraisals. We also explained to them how they could help their children with their school performance. We also conducted session for them to help increase awareness of all the social schemes available and how they could benefit from them.
Training programmes were conducted for both parents and teachers regarding the prevalent Child Protection policy and Act and also about Health Awareness to increase awareness and to promote Healthy living practices.
Various training programmes were also conducted for the children including Scouts and Guides Training to help them become more responsible and disciplined individuals. They were also trained in Sports and other Extracurricular activities.
Events – Special Events are an integral part of SIS and the children look forward to these events as it gives them an opportunity to have a glimpse of what children with no disabilities in other schools experience. The teachers of SIS invest a lot of their time in making these memorable for the children. 2022 was packed with various events throughout the year.
There were some Cultural events like Hindi Divas to spread awareness among both students and their parents about the importance of knowing and speaking Hindi in our country. The children and staff of SIS participated in the Kannada Sahitya Parishat and Koti Kanta Gayana programmes by sharing their stories and showcasing the cultural values of Kannada Song. Sadbhavana Diwaswasanevent organized to promote national integration and communal harmony among people of all religions, language and regions
The students attended a Herbarium Workshop where they had the opportunity to gain knowledge and also get hands on training on the methodology to collect plant specimens, how to maintain field note-book while collecting plants, processing of specimens and maintaining records.
Special Days were made extra special for SIS children by the various events that were organized to help them understand the significance of the day or festivity.
With India celebrating its 75th Year of Independence, the SIS children too celebrated the day – Har Ghar Tiranga events that were held, inspired the children by helping them to understand the importance of the freedom struggle, learnt about the value and contribution of the freedom fighters, inculcated the feeling of patriotism and promoted the feeling of mutual love and harmony amongst the children.
Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated with children demonstrating their creative skills through making clay models, flower decoration etc. Gandhi Jayanthi was celebrated by to pay homage to the Father of the Nations and educating the children about all he did for the country. Karnataka was celebrated during Kannada Rajyotsava and the children were reminded about how the state of Karnataka was formed and the unique characteristics it has.
SIS children participated in an Inter school painting competition for differently abled children and showcased their talent in Art and Painting in an event organized by Karnataka State Council For Children Welfare (KSCCW). There was also a Splash Drawing event held in the school to motivate children to bring out their skills and talent in Drawing and coloring. Kalangaanwas a special event held to bring out the hidden talents and abilities of differently abled children of age group between 4 to 18.
There are also several days designated to celebrate children with disabilities like Cerebral Palsy Day and International day of persons with disabilities (IDPD). SIS organized several events to celebrate these children on their special day. 24 Children from SIS participated in motor games and walked the Ramp for a Fashion show organized on Cerebral Palsy Day. SIS children participated in several events conducted in the city for IDPD. There was an event organized at the Kanteerva Stadium which was attended by a team from SIS along with CwD beneficiaries. A special health insurance scheme was also launched by the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. A small team of SIS Teachers and students participated in the IDPD day celebration at Delhi public school where they mobilized support for the right and well-being of persons with special needs and also helped increase awareness and understanding of children with disabilities. A special Craft Mela was organized at the APD campus to motivate children to bring out their skills and talents by making art and craft material with waste which was showcased during this event. The creativity of children was much appreciated.
Some significant achievements during the year are: Application for 67 UDID cards and 29 Minorities scholarships through Facilitated Social, Provision of 4532 physiotherapy services, 3000 Occupational therapy services, 1899 Speech therapy services and 204 services by a clinical psychologist.
On the Academic Front, assessment was an important activity that was held in 2022 where formative and summative assessments were conducted to evaluate the performance of the students as per the IEP. The improvement of the children in Reading, Writing and Arithmetic skills of the children was measured for 173 children. 53 students attended the Kannada Talent Exam which aims to develop Kannada language skills. All 53 children got medals and participation certificates and some of our students excelled with 2 children getting a state rank and 3 children a district level rank.
SIS always gives importance to experiential learning and various visits were organized in 2022 to help them experience and learn through visits to the Planetarium, Cubbon Park, Sneha Deeo Blind School, JBN for Horticulture training and the Post Office. These visits gave the children an exposure to a wide spectrum of areas right from astronomy to working of the postal system.
The year also saw visits from Volunteers from Milaap, Northern Trust, Publicis Sapient and Levis. During these visits, special events and games were organized both for fun and for improving the creative, physical and motor skills of the students.
Looking ahead to 2023, we would like to continue with the Training Programmes for Parents and Staff on Sign Language and also Teachers training programmes that will empower them and enhance their teaching skills for better learning outcomes. Assessments for the year will be completed and recorded and regular interaction with the parents will be organized to review the performance of their children and see how the learnings can be enhanced and reinforced by them at home. We hope to hold a sensitization program to strengthen SDMC committee. We will continue to assist with the application for 60 UDID cards. Two big events that we are planning for are the Science Exhibition for Science Day and the Annual Day. We are also aiming to introduce some innovative methods to teach and learn Mathematics and also look to enhance and develop the Curriculum for children with intellectual disabilities. We also plan to introduce vocational training courses in Horticulture.
We need your help to spread the word! Please share this opportunity with your friends and contacts, especially those who are USA tax payers . Post a link to our project page on your Facebook page asking your friends to donate . For further details please feel free to write to me shanigar@apd-india.org or call me on *Mob: +91- 9972450655*
Our sincere thanks to all of our Donors for their kind donations and love. We shall submit to you more news in the next report.
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