A laundry and cafeteria run by young adults with special needs are among the empowering programmes envisaged by the Kinchitkaram Trust’s Abhyasa Kendra School in Srirangam.
“We have found that many schools here cater to young children with special needs of 5-8 years, and after a period, not knowing what to do, they send them back home. It undoes all the work that has been put in through the years, which is really quite a lot,” Vasudha Prakash, founder-director, V-Excel Educational Trust, that is behind the curricular structure in the school, told The Hindu .
V-Excel is affiliated to Sringeri Sri Sarada Peetham, while Vedic scholar Velukkudi Sri U.Ve Krishnan Swami guides the Kinchitkaram Trust. Both institutions are actively engaged in bringing special education services to smaller cities in Tamil Nadu.
Operating on a ‘no turn-away’ policy, the Abhyasa Kendra, which was inaugurated in October 2015, is a secular institution that trains young adults with special needs (above the age of 15 years) in a variety of vocational courses. Currently, the school has 30 students on its rolls, and is operating from a temporary campus in Thiruvanaikovil as a customised premises comes up in Srirangam’s Pulimandapam Street. It charges a fee of Rs. 500 per student.
The trust eventually plans to start satellite training centres at its village facilities in Tirunagari, Tirukkannangudi, Sirupuliyur and Koviladi.
Besides placing students in mainstream jobs, the Abhyasa Kendra also prepares students to help their parents in running small family production units, such as manufacturing areca fibre plates, candles and incense sticks.
“For pupils who cannot be trained to work on a sustained basis, we offer vocational training in skills that will help them be self-reliant,” said Dr. Vasudha. “We tend to focus on the child’s abilities. And we try to build upon them, so that they can contribute to society.”
Empowering people with special needs has to be prioritised, both in the educational system and in the family structure, said Dr. Vasudha, a trained clinical psychologist with a doctorate in Special Education from Rutgers University, USA. “Every parent of a child with special needs lay their head on their pillow with the thought ‘what after me?’ It kind of rules their existence. This is why we should work towards programmes that will make these children self-reliant.”
V-Excel’s team of experts visits the Abhyasa Kendra School every month. Six locally-based special educators take care of the daily running of the institution. Besides functional skills training aimed at social inclusion, students are also engaged in activities like grinding (for sale) of idli batter, preparation of spice mixes, paper bag production, car washing and laundry services.
On the anvil now is an eatery with a menu catering to a more globalised palate, to be run almost entirely by the Kendra’s students. “We have been training our children to prepare items like sandwiches and soup varieties for nearly one year now. They will also take care of the front-end work. There will be a further 6 months spent on a soft launch, with specially invited guests sampling the menu before we open for business in the new campus,” said Dr. Vasudha.
“We have also decided to bring in laundry training here, as it has been a major success in our Chennai centre,” she said.
Hoping to expand student strength up to 50 in a year or two, Dr. Vasudha says the next task would be to place the trained students in jobs before the next batch of admissions. “We have to make the model sustainable for the life-span of a person with special needs,” she said.
Queries from volunteers and medical professionals who can help out with the Abhyasa Kendra’s programmes are welcome. More details can be had from S. Sridevi by dialling 7708964104
