Schools in Kolkata Offer Hope to Children With Disabilities

"I learnt that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."- Nelson Mandela

The fear of being different in a world where everyone was not born the same, but to be different is often ridiculed. The fear of being unaccepted is a dark tunnel but there a ray of light that signals hope.

It is a challenge for parents to bring up children with disabilities, but with more awakening in Kolkata's schools, there are close to six schools in the city offering inclusive education.

This allows children with physical disabilities and disorders like dyslexia, autism, down syndrome and cerebral palsy to study in mainstream schools under the guidance of special educators.

The teacher student ratio is 1:10 and the emphasis is on preparing them to be a part of mainstream society.

Principal Noni Khullar says "Children with down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, who don't necessarily have to match with the academic levels of other children. They have been brought into the school for social integration. We feel it is their right to be included in a mainstream school to go into mainstream society. If they don't come into a mainstream school how are going to be ready to face mainstream society."

Children try and cope with the ICSE syllabus till class five. If they cannot cope, there are provisions for them to pass their board exams through the National Institute of Open School.

There are also special skill training programmes and the Open Basic Education for slow learners according to the government-run Sarvo Shiksha Abhigyan or education for all programme. It is the city's sole school affiliated to ASDAN in UK, where children with special needs can get social, health and IT related skill training to assist them in gaining employment.

"In terms of infrastructure, you needs ramps, lifts, sensitivity amongst parents, teachers and students.

Initially there is always a denial for this because nobody wants to believe there is something wrong with any child," says Seema Sapru, Principal of Heritage School which also believes in inclusive education.

There are three thousand students of which 110 are children with additional needs.

While the fee structure is higher for these children, Heritage School gives them the sense of being a part of regular activities of the school.

In some cases, special educators are provided to children with disorders to go the extra mile to teach them.

Class eight student Shreya is an example of how she uses her photographic memory to her advantage to prevent dyslexia being a hindrance. She takes pictures of diagrams and also has a special educator who repeats lessons with her.

"I can't read or write. But I can do things verbally which they can't. I have such a memory power that they tend to forget stuff but I don't", Shreya said.

Sometimes, learning disabilities are detected much later in their growing years. Such schools help as it come as a relief for parents with the growing awareness of inclusive education in Kolkata's schools.

While it gives their children an exposure to a normal environment, it also helps to sensitise normal children to be more open to the differently-abled. After all it is the growing years that shape the lives of every individual and strengthen them to conquer their fears before they walk out into the world.