We’ve known of her single-minded dedication towards the education of special children, her life-long mission to help them find their place in society free from stigma. It probably never even occurred to her to seek any limelight for her efforts ‑ which is why we are that much more pleased to learn that Durga Jain is among this year’s recipients of the Padma Shri. It’s also perhaps time to tell a story, which began in 1959.
Married into a very reputed Jain family, the birth of her daughter was a cause of celebration till doctors diagnosed the child with Downs Syndrome. It was shattering. The given wisdom was that such children should be “isolated” from society, but Durga was simply not ready to give up hope. By the time the child turned five, she had started teaching her at home and slowly became aware of other “family secrets” locked out of sight by several affluent families in the city. After some persuasion, a small group of parents banded together to find a place where these children could be taught with special techniques which unfortunately were non-existent in India then.
They finally managed to persuade a lady running a kindergarten to give them a room for these children. It was just around that time, the Psychology department of Sophia College was modernising its syllabus and this small classroom became a sort of lab extension for their students to get a feel of “real life” situations. The classroom eventually found a small place in the premises of Sophia College but so strongly entrenched were superstitions about such special children that the then Principal of Sophia insisted they remain indoors at all times - for fear that “normal children could get infected”.
With no funds to keep it going, Durga eventually approached her father-in-law - late Shriyans Prasad Jain - who gave a substantial endowment to the special school. That was the genesis of the SPJ Sadhana School which is arguably today one of country’s best known schools for people with special needs. We’re saddened to note that her daughter - Vasudha - passed away in 2010, but our warmest wishes to the Jain family matriarch for this richly deserved recognition.
