SSS has gone on for Diwali vacation from 25th Oct. to 6th Nov. It will reopen on 7th Nov.2011. Starcirclip Unit & our Nagpur office will start working from 29th Oct. 2011. Though vacation were from 25th, on 24th Oct. there were 35 students present as against 78-79 on routine days. It was a surprise because there was no public holiday and obviously working parents were not at home. So what must be the reason for this low attendance? We were operating both the buses and off course all staff as well. Many times I fail to understand the psychology of parents. What factor prompts them to keep their ward at home for obviously no reason. If parents had brought this point in parent meetings, it could have been discussed and if majority wished vacation could have been from 25th itself. Anyway!!
We are happy about one thing and that is average attendance for this session. It is heartening to see that out of 88 on most of the days 78-79 students are present. Consistency in attendance is very important. In learning process of mentally challenged we simply can not ignore this consistency factor. It is absurd to imagine that they will learn when you have time for them. The most unfortunate part of mentally challenged's life is, his care takers take him for granted. Since they are not self advocates it all depends on the whims, liking-disliking, availability of time and social concerns of the care takers. Some times you find parent too much concerned about his ward and on other occasion he seems to be list bothered about his ward's development. When our Principal calls for the parent's one to one meeting, they are having other priorities. But when there is some behavioral problem at home, they are concerned about his progress. But with regard and respect for the special parents, we at Sandnya feel that parent themselves should have consistency in responding to the call of management and the need of their ward.
By: Navin Deshpande
e mail: navindesh@gmail.com
Monday, October 24, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Awareness Meeting for students
Last week Sandnya Srushti had 40 students of 9th standard from Center Point School. Four staff members also accompanied them. They reached Little late then the time scheduled. In fact we prefer our visitors to attend our morning prayer. It helps the visitor to understand the gravity and complexity of mental disability. We encourage students from normal schools to visit our campus. Seeing is believing, further it helps realizing the limitations of mentally challenged. Which in turn supports integration as well. These young visitors were taken on a conducted tour of Sandnya Srushti by dividing the lot in three groups. We took them through special schooling class rooms, vocational section and then through rehab units. Our trained guides explain about methods of special education and techniques. While going through vocational section guide explains to visitors about concept developing techniques adopted. Through rehab units, they try to emphasis that mental disability does not mean work disability. In therapy section, visitor understands the importance of different exercises under taken to keep our students fit.
By: Navin Deshpande
e mail: navindesh@gmail.com
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Challenges during this yesr
During last week, there was a small accident. During journey back home, in one of our buses, one of our rehab student got disturb and started with abusive language. He is in habit of doing this ever since last four years he is with us. off course we are successful to a great extent in controlling this behavioral trait. This boy is about 27-28 years. He is in habit of using foul language for our lady teachers also. In our campus we have been controlling his behavior. Severity and frequency of his tantrums is also on much lower side. But on this fate full day, in the bus he could not be controlled, one of the male staff tried to pacify but to no avail, when tried further to pacify him, he tried to assault the staff member. Getting provoked by this, staff slapped for once.
On reaching home, boy told parents with exaggeration who in turn immediately phoned us same night. Next day, staff reported the incidence and apologised for his uncalled for provocation and promised not to be part of such event in future. This staff member is a new one and works in the Sandnya Srushti office on computer. He does not have much exposure with these kids firstly, secondly he is very soft spoken person with absolutely good mannerism. He is not one to get provoked so easily. He has got real good rapo with all staff members and not known to have any conflict with any other person. With this personal background and his apologies for the mistake, it is appropriate to excuse him with a warning.
Next day morning, parents with younger sibling and two more friends of the sibling rushed to the SS office agitated. They were right to do so as a parent. Management on their part tendered apologies and regretted the happening. They further, assured the family that management does not permit verbal or physical assault in any circumstance. In fact we have been consistently hammering this point in all our staff meetings. It is the result of this consistent emphasis that in last seventeen years no such incidence occurred. Family also accepted this fact and mentioned frequently that they have full faith in SSS. But they continued to insist the sacking of the staff involved. We were trying our best to convince the family that the staff is not habitual offender and in fact has a very good service record and thus deserves pardon for once at least.
It was surprising that on one side they accepted thrashing of the boy at home by all family members and in particular by younger sibling. On other side they want to severely punish the staff. There point being that he is thrashed severely by the staff.
We at SSS in general and I as a person do not approve this act but in given situation, we strongly feel that the staff concerned deserves pardon. The family stand is like they have never committed a mistake in their life. This extreme approach of parents is beyond comprehension. If adopted this approach, no system can ever work leave apart cause of mental disability. I feel parents should have faith in us as management. Bringing facts to the notice of the office is indeed essential. Since our children are not self advocates it is absolutely right to be alert and vigilant for the safety and welfare of our kids. But having done that, we must try to understand the other side as well.
I thus feel whatever happened was a accident and we will be still more vigilant in our efforts in future.Parents were demanding the removal of the concerned staff member. I suggested that, we will wait for three days before taking any action. If after three days parents still feel that concerned staff be punished, then we will act. Parents were told to phone me on fourth day and convey their decision.
It was indeed a matter of great satisfaction that the better sense prevailed and parents told me that I should be the best person to take the appropriate action and the matter was closed.
Navin Deshpande
Secretary, SSS
Friday, September 16, 2011
challenges in current year
Without challenges there is no life or there is no charm in life. Recently last month I had been to Chota Kailas for tracking. This is in Himachal Pradesh, at the height of 14500 ft. above sea level. We were 11 persons and the eldest was 79 years old. The ascend is very steep, almost 30 degree throughout the track. we climbed this 13 km in a day and came down next day. After coming back to Nagpur one of my friends said what is the point in putting your body to this stress? But accepting challenges is the inherent nature of human beings. Accepting challenges voluntarily is more satisfying. Climbing Himalayan heights is a challenge there is no doubt about it but working for mentally challenged and trying to improve their quality of life is again a challenge in itself. Achieving milestones in both these challenges is not only rewarding but is soothing and self satisfying indeed. I feel when the challenge is accepted not for any personal gain or benefit but for the sheer joy of it, it is like a bliss.
Navin Deshpande
Secretary, SSS
navindesh@gmail.com
Friday, July 1, 2011
Mother's meeting
On Saturday,25th June 2011 monthly mother's meeting of Matrusangharsh was held at 2:30 pm at Ganesh Mandir hall in Tatya Tope Nagar. The attendance of mothers was less as compared to earlier meetings. Our social worker says, it might be because we changed the venue for this meeting. Anyway, the main topic was regarding the agenda of the meeting, timing and format. Few mothers felt that, there has to be some thing which can relax the mothers since they are under stress continuously. Some members said there can be a entertainment item, few of them did not agree for this. There were few for yoga exercises for relaxation also.
Another topic which was discussed was of Rakhi sale. Every year members of Matrusangharsh help in selling Rakhi. Rakhi Rehab unit is one of our most successful rehabilitation activity. This unit is making profit consistently since last more than ten years. It is a financially independent unit and contribution of volunteers is also very large at every stage, right from designing to packing and selling.
There is another way in which Matrusangharsh members support SSS. They have been collecting News paper scrap and after selling it, the amount is donated to SSS. It is a monthly contribution to SSS.
By: Navin Deshpande
e-mail: navindesh@gmail.com
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Admissions over
Ever since we have wait list for admission, there is lot of misunderstanding amongst parents of these children. Not only parents but many of our well wishers are also not clear about why there is a wait list. Thus we get lot of phone calls from such parents and concerned people also. To clear this confusion from the mind of these parents and to make our selves clear we are here under giving the whole admission procedure, admissions done this year and the latest wait list position. The whole thing is absolutely transparent and can understood easily.
Admission procedure: What is the procedure adopted for admitting a mentally disabled child in to Sandnya Sanwardhan Sanstha’s “Kalpataru” special school? Till about 4-5 years back, this question had no significance as far as parents of mentally challenged children were concerned. Though, we at SSS had evolved an admission system as early as in the year 1995. Parents normally came to us and followed the system with not giving much credence to whatever we said and did. The reason was everyone was getting admission.
But since last 4-5 years there is a wait list for getting in to SSS special school. And as this wait list is growing parents have started becoming impatient. When they are told that their child cannot get admission, they are shocked, they cannot believe. Further, when they hear the number of wait list they feel dejected and disappointed. From this point they really start thinking about why there is wait list and can it be over ruled or bypassed by any means? Is there a chance for manipulation on their part or from management? This situation is of rather disbelief in the system. Nothing wrong as far as parents are concerned, because, in our country things do not move with system but by and large it works by twisting the system. Parents find it hard to believe that there is an organization which works on ethics, morals and principals. Thus few parents try to bring recommendation, try to give threat and even try to bribe. We do not blame parents for this, but we are thus trying here to explain how we follow a procedure for admission.
Step one- Parent approaches our office for admission. We give a date for the assessment where in mentally disabled child along with both parents have to report on the given date. Parents are advised to bring disability certificate of the mentally disabled child. This certificate is issued by Civil Surgeon.
Step two- On given date and time assessment of the child is done by the special educator and Clinical Psychologist. This procedure takes about 1 ½ hour to 2 hours. Principal decides the appropriate class as per the assessment report of the special educator. If “primary class” is appropriate and if we have vacancy, this child is given admission.
Step three- Parents are given date for paying admission fees and conveyance expense.
Step four- On payment of fees, parents are informed about the uniform, tiffin, stoppage for the bus and its timings etc.
But in case, if there is no vacancy for the “primary class”, then this child is given a wait list number. This wait list number is for this particular class. It may happen that for “primary class” the wait list number is one, but the overall wait list number for this same child could be something like 42. Thus whenever there is a vacancy in primary class, this child will get admission in spite of the fact that, the overall number is 42. If another child is assessed much earlier and is on wait list no.1 for “secondary class” and his overall wait list number is 20 only. Since there is no vacancy in "secondary class", this child does not get admission. This second child’s parent feels aggrieved and thinks that there is something fishy. In such situations, this parent tries all prevailing corrupt practices including bribe. Though, our Principal tries his best to explain all these things to the parent at the time of assessment, most of the parents do not accept it and try to approach higher ups. Nothing wrong in this. We are happy, after explaining, most of the parents understand and realize the difference in SSS and other institutions. We have talked about this issue of admission in detail, to aware all concerned parents, their relatives and all our supporters as well. We once again assure that, SSS works for the cause of mental disability with no discrimination of cast, creed, and religion and socio economic condition of the parent. For us all mentally challenged children are same. Our commitment to this noble cause is total and absolutely honest. We do not bend rules which are made by us only. People must understand that no trusty member of SSS ever recommends any candidate for admission because they know that it will be carried as per the set norms.
Admissions for this academic year are complete. For this year we have admitted 14 new students in total. Out of this 2 are from Butibori. Class wise, it is 3- in Autistic, 3- in care group, 3 in pre primary, 1- in primary, 1- in secondary and 3- in pre vocational, thus total 14 new admission. This was possible because, 6 students withdrew their names for various reasons and “rakhi unit 6 members” were shifted to our Nagpur office. In last more then ten years, this is for the first time we could admit those many new students. We at Sandnya feel satisfied and relieved to a great extent.
The wait list position as on date for various classes is as follows:
Care group-3, Pre-primary-5, Autistic-2, Primary-5, Pre-vocational-3.
We at Sandnya are trying our best to get a third bus, if we get one, may be the wait list will be cleared.
By: Navin Deshpande, Secretary, SSS
e-mail: navindesh@gmail.com
Admission procedure: What is the procedure adopted for admitting a mentally disabled child in to Sandnya Sanwardhan Sanstha’s “Kalpataru” special school? Till about 4-5 years back, this question had no significance as far as parents of mentally challenged children were concerned. Though, we at SSS had evolved an admission system as early as in the year 1995. Parents normally came to us and followed the system with not giving much credence to whatever we said and did. The reason was everyone was getting admission.
But since last 4-5 years there is a wait list for getting in to SSS special school. And as this wait list is growing parents have started becoming impatient. When they are told that their child cannot get admission, they are shocked, they cannot believe. Further, when they hear the number of wait list they feel dejected and disappointed. From this point they really start thinking about why there is wait list and can it be over ruled or bypassed by any means? Is there a chance for manipulation on their part or from management? This situation is of rather disbelief in the system. Nothing wrong as far as parents are concerned, because, in our country things do not move with system but by and large it works by twisting the system. Parents find it hard to believe that there is an organization which works on ethics, morals and principals. Thus few parents try to bring recommendation, try to give threat and even try to bribe. We do not blame parents for this, but we are thus trying here to explain how we follow a procedure for admission.
Step one- Parent approaches our office for admission. We give a date for the assessment where in mentally disabled child along with both parents have to report on the given date. Parents are advised to bring disability certificate of the mentally disabled child. This certificate is issued by Civil Surgeon.
Step two- On given date and time assessment of the child is done by the special educator and Clinical Psychologist. This procedure takes about 1 ½ hour to 2 hours. Principal decides the appropriate class as per the assessment report of the special educator. If “primary class” is appropriate and if we have vacancy, this child is given admission.
Step three- Parents are given date for paying admission fees and conveyance expense.
Step four- On payment of fees, parents are informed about the uniform, tiffin, stoppage for the bus and its timings etc.
But in case, if there is no vacancy for the “primary class”, then this child is given a wait list number. This wait list number is for this particular class. It may happen that for “primary class” the wait list number is one, but the overall wait list number for this same child could be something like 42. Thus whenever there is a vacancy in primary class, this child will get admission in spite of the fact that, the overall number is 42. If another child is assessed much earlier and is on wait list no.1 for “secondary class” and his overall wait list number is 20 only. Since there is no vacancy in "secondary class", this child does not get admission. This second child’s parent feels aggrieved and thinks that there is something fishy. In such situations, this parent tries all prevailing corrupt practices including bribe. Though, our Principal tries his best to explain all these things to the parent at the time of assessment, most of the parents do not accept it and try to approach higher ups. Nothing wrong in this. We are happy, after explaining, most of the parents understand and realize the difference in SSS and other institutions. We have talked about this issue of admission in detail, to aware all concerned parents, their relatives and all our supporters as well. We once again assure that, SSS works for the cause of mental disability with no discrimination of cast, creed, and religion and socio economic condition of the parent. For us all mentally challenged children are same. Our commitment to this noble cause is total and absolutely honest. We do not bend rules which are made by us only. People must understand that no trusty member of SSS ever recommends any candidate for admission because they know that it will be carried as per the set norms.
Admissions for this academic year are complete. For this year we have admitted 14 new students in total. Out of this 2 are from Butibori. Class wise, it is 3- in Autistic, 3- in care group, 3 in pre primary, 1- in primary, 1- in secondary and 3- in pre vocational, thus total 14 new admission. This was possible because, 6 students withdrew their names for various reasons and “rakhi unit 6 members” were shifted to our Nagpur office. In last more then ten years, this is for the first time we could admit those many new students. We at Sandnya feel satisfied and relieved to a great extent.
The wait list position as on date for various classes is as follows:
Care group-3, Pre-primary-5, Autistic-2, Primary-5, Pre-vocational-3.
We at Sandnya are trying our best to get a third bus, if we get one, may be the wait list will be cleared.
By: Navin Deshpande, Secretary, SSS
e-mail: navindesh@gmail.com
Monday, June 13, 2011
First day of Kalpataru
Yes 13Th June was the reopening day of our special school "Kalpataru". And the attendance was very poor. Out of 87, only 30 students reported. It was surprising for me to note that, non of the newly admitted students reported. I had a odd feeling. All the parents of these newly admitted students were so much anxious or at least showed anxiety for admission as if they will send there ward to school the very same moment. And now they got their ward admitted, they are not bothered. My observation is, it takes at least one week for parents to get warmed up for sending their mentally disabled child to school. In most of the cases, parents are not really interested in any thing else than to see that their son/daughter are away for few hours. They expect it like a baby sitting arrangement. I have seen very few parents who are keen in the progress of their son/daughter in true sense. We certainly understand the parents problems. But unfortunately for us at SSS, it is not a baby sitting job for us. We put every thing in to it like money, mind and our soul. A smallest progress in a severely retarded child is like winning a award for us. Most of the people do not realize our commitment to this cause. For us at SSS it would be a matter of great concern when a mentally challenged student of ours do not show progress. This is thoroughly discussed with the concerned teacher, not only that, it is the main point on the agenda in the monthly staff meeting as well. It really hurts us when we find many parents do not take things seriously. Sending their ward regularly to school is not a priority for many parents. If it suits to their routine of the day then only he /she is sent. Further, it is a matter of great concern to us, when parents do not bother to intimate the Principal of the school if the child is not likely to come. In many instances this absenteeism is for more than a month also. During parent meeting, we have been talking about this, but many parents simply do not bother. When you take admission you give a under taking to follow the rules and regulation of the Institute. But who cares and who really reads it seriously? We are eager to take admission, and so simply sign on any paper put in front of us. Not a very good attitude. Of course, there are few parents they are disciplined and follow it religiously. It is soothing for both, parents and us at SSS.
By: Navin Deshpande, Secretary, SSS
e-mail: navindesh@gmail.com
By: Navin Deshpande, Secretary, SSS
e-mail: navindesh@gmail.com
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