Education for Special Need Children in India

Inclusive education, where physically/intellectually challenged children receive education at par with other students, was a rare concept conceived only by a few institutions, and one among them is Amar Seva Sangam, Ayikudy. A small classroom with a handful of rural poor children was set up under a thatched roof way back in 1981 by the Founder President of Amar Seva Sangam, Sri S. Ramakrishnan, a quadriplegic and a Padma Shri awardee (2020). This inclusive school was named Siva Saraswati Vidyalaya. This Nursery School was upgraded to Middle School in 1991 and to High School in 2009, and
then upgraded to Higher Secondary School in 2015. The core idea behind this inclusive education is to give quality education programs designed to meet diverse learning needs and abilities. The differently-abled children get equal opportunities to study together with other children, where they learn to co-exist with amity and friendship.

The classrooms are well ventilated with a playground, computer lab, and library, ensuring proper sanitation and hygiene. We engage the students in extracurricular activities and inculcate the habit of reading, using our library. Every year, we receive district-level sports prizes, and our students participate regularly in national-level yoga and chess competitions. Our students are also involved in scout & guide activities and won the Rajya Puraskar award by the Governor of Tamil Nadu right from the year 2014.

Our inclusive school is making very good progress, and so far, 11,105 rural poor children have received quality education, out of which 801 students are differently abled. Cent per cent results were achieved consistently in the last several years, and several of our ex-students are now pursuing higher education elsewhere, while many of them are gainfully employed. The current student’s strength is 680. While no fee is collected from physically challenged students, the rural poor students pay only a very nominal fee.