Kolhapur school empowers handicapped

A physically challenged student of standard II, Satyam Magdum, using his walker, can go to the terrace on the second floor of his school building. Summaiya Pathan of standard IX of the same school, who does not have hands, can sit comfortably on a special bench and write with her feet.

Welcome to Kolhapur-based Samarth Vidyamandir, a school with a difference run by Helpers of Handicapped Kolhapur (HoHK). The school management shifted to a new barrier-free building in December last year, benefiting 43 physically challenged students.

The school, set up in 2001, has a total strength of 460 and is affiliated to the Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. The new building has come up on 2 acres provided by the state government. It also received a grant of Rs1.28 crore for construction of a disabled-friendly building.

The funds were provided jointly by the government’s Canadian International Development Agency and the Canada-based Maharashtra Seva Samiti. HoHK was founded in 1984 by Naseema Hurzuk, a paraplegic. Setting up the school in Mudshingi village near Kolhapur, offering education to children, including disabled ones, was her brainchild.

HoHK treasurer and coordinator of the school, PD Deshpande, told DNA the facilities for the disabled at the school are of international standard. “Our main intention in constructing a barrier-free school building is to empower handicapped students. Such handicap-friendly facilities cannot be found even in public buildings,” he said.

Apart from the spacious classrooms for smooth movement of wheelchairs, the two-storey building has computer rooms, a library and laboratory, ramps up to the terrace and toilets with handles.

The furniture in the school has been tailor-made for students with various disabilities. For instance, there are chairs which help students operate computers or write with their feet. Similarly, the tables in the laboratory and the library are of low to help wheelchair-bound children.

Ramps have been set up for entry to the school hall and the ground floor.

The ramps have railings for support and level areas for taking rest. Two toilets have attached rooms with beds, useful for severe paraplegic children.

The school has a library set up with aid from Rotary Club of Kolhapur, Rotary Foundation and Rotary Club of Kelowna (Canada).

Samarth Vidyamandir has a vocational training centre in Kolhapur. It has set up a campus in Swapnanagari, in Sindhudurg, which is involved in farming, dairy, cashew processing units employing the handicapped.

A teacher at the school, Mugdha Gore, said the environment is not only barrier-free for the students, but for teachers as well with the management encouraging innovative learning ideas.

A physically challenged student, Harshard Satam, who topped this year’s SSC examination in the school by scoring 89%, said he could easily use the computers at the school. He is disabled in his right leg.
 
Support mechanism
Teachers conduct tests for new students for arithmetic, language skills and comprehension and conduct special classes for those not up to the mark.

The school has around 60 students from the Phase Pardhi community, who do not understand Marathi because their mother tongue is Kathewadi.

“We went to their homes and asked their parents to speak Marathi at home and advised the students to discuss their studies with their parents. On the school’s annual day, we arranged for some songs in Kathewadi. For us, the physical barrier is not the only barrier,” Deshpande said.

He added there are many advantages of physically handicapped and abled students studying together. Students volunteer to carry bags of the handicapped to the classrooms.

“Normal students get sensitised about the handicapped, while the company of normal students benefits the handicapped. The children develop support mechanism on their own,” Deshpande said.