| Makkala Bhavishya |
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| Children's future |
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| An inclusive education programme for disabled and non-disabled children and their families in Bangalore slums in partnership with Mobility India |
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This 3 year programme grew out of Mobility India’s accessibility training with disabled people in the Banashankari slums. Many poor disabled children and non disabled were not in school or had dropped out. We wanted to find a way to get all these children into schools and learning.
We started the programme with a survey of 5,000 homes to identify disabled children and all children who were not in school. Every disabled child assessed by Mobility India’s technical team comprising prosthetists, orthotists and rehabilitation therapists had an individual rehabilitation plan and these were followed up throughout. For example, children with polio were fitted with quality callipers, those who needed corrective surgery were referred to specialists and parents were trained to provide home based therapy for children with cerebral palsy.
Women in the community who were reasonably well educated were recruited and trained to run coaching classes, bridging classes, summer schools and tuition classes. Field workers lobbied local schools to take in kids from the slum areas. 800 children under 14 were enrolled in school, 113 were disabled children. Each year an average of 325 children attended extra coaching classes which helped to raise achievements.
The children had fun too as they got together for social events and annual summer picnics as well taking part in the 3rd December Disabled Peoples Day celebrations. It was crucial to engage parents of disabled children for this to be really effective. Sanghas or Self Help Groups were set up by parents for savings and micro credit to support and sustain their children’s schooling and future. This helped remedy the problem that many children were withdrawn from school to contribute to the family income.
The parents formed 9 Sanghas which also included some disabled adults in the community. Each of these groups was given an autorickshaw to provide a regular taxi service getting children to and from school, while revenue from plying them commercially was ploughed back for running costs and into the savings fund for loans for new enterprises. Members who saved regularly were eligible for loans and many set up small businesses and began to earn regular incomes.
Sangha members proved to be a positive force for change as they took on responsibilities like getting children enrolled in school, monitoring school attendance and lobbying government agencies for better rehabilitation services for disabled children.
Makkala Bhavishya through a child’s eyes>> |
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