Ray of hope: Special schools of Bangalore

Education is the cornerstone of one’s life. Most often, we take it for granted that just about everyone has access to one. But little do we realise that sometimes there are people less fortunate than us, people who can be deprived of a normal education because of some impairment—physical or mental. Well, we need not despair as the city is now home to several special schools.

The Bethany Special School started of as an educational outreach programme for children with physical and mental disabilities. Located in Koramangala, this school that began with just three children now has about forty of them. The curriculum is designed in such a way so as to take care of the cognitive, motor, social and language skills of the children. The focus is on all-round development, with an emphasis on vocational training, to make the children self-sufficient.

Established in 1972, Sophia High School has the rare distinction of being the first to have an infant care stimulation centre, along with a computer centre to help children with delayed development and low IQ.

The Baldwin Opportunity School is another such institution that offers its services to the mentally-challenged children.

In addition to the above-mentioned schools, there are other institutions that provide a ray of hope to parents and children alike by making the children self-sufficient and, in some cases, even helping them secure jobs.

Aruna Chetana School for Spastic and Disabled works with spastics, mentally-challenged and disabled children. Also institutes like Dr SR Chandrashekar Institute of Speech and Hearing deal solely with children with speech and hearing disabilities while The Rakum School for the Blind plays an integral role by imparting education as well as training to children who are visually impaired.

Thumbs up to these islands of hope amidst the dark sea of despair.