Education for Special Need Children in India

A child with special needs always has difficulties in attending to classroom education. Most schools in India are not accessible for children with special needs and they face isolation and exclusion from the regular students. This leads to severe functional and psychological impact on the child and affects the personality and prospects when the child grows up. The barrier starts from the elementary to the higher levels of education in India.


Siva Saraswathi Vidyalaya, an integrated school, was started as a primary school in Ayikudy village in Tirunelveli District of Tamilnadu in June 1981 with 5 students in a thatched shed as the first effort of Sangam to give quality education at affordable cost to the physically challenged as well as other rural students. The school grew to 5 teachers and 110 students by 1990 to further progress in our integration efforts of disabled children with others to achieve equal rights for all. In 1995, we started Middle school which was upgraded to High school in 2009 and Higher Secondary in 2015. Here, in Amar Seva Sangam, we provide a complete inclusive solution for education of children with special needs.

 Our inclusive and integrated school is established to include mainstream children with special needs children. We are highly successful in the process of inclusive education and most children who have gone out after finishing their schooling have been highly successful in their lives. This encourages us to cater to more and more such children in our region. Hence, frequent requirements for funding have become necessary.

 

So far 2150 students have completed their education from our Integrated School, out of which 185 students are differently able pursuing further education and livelihood as below:

1. 40 students are pursuing higher education,
2. 60 employed in corporate sector,
3. 25 having private livelihood initiatives,
4. 20 employed in organized sector and
5. 40 having household, trade and business.