Where’s the akashkandil? Right here! Diwali goodies? In that box. And what about crackers? Are we going to burst them? Let’s not, says Suraj.
“I love the festival, but I don’t like the part where people burn crackers. They are not good for our environment. I know Diwali is incomplete without crackers, but you need to think about our environment, no? Diwali means taking care of the available resources and keeping them safe from any kind of harm, so that we can have a better life in the future.” Wise kid this Suraj fellow, isn’t he?
Aditi Phulwalkar agrees with him. Says she, “The teacher says crackers are bad for the environment, so I don’t burst them. I love lighting diyas and drawing rangoli with the help of my mother. My mother also makes my favourite sweet Gulab Jamuns every year for Diwali.”
But Suraj’s school friend, Santosh wants to burst crackers and eat sweets too. “I am going to burst crackers, eat sweets, and make sky lanterns which Sir has taught us to make. I will make them for my home too and hang them at the entrance.”
Aditi’s senior in school, Yash Ambekar, loves celebrating the festival at school. “I love burning less polluting crackers. I also love eating the sweets which my mother makes. She makes Laddoos, Chakli and Chivda for me. I also make the fort during Diwali. I learnt to make it at school first and then made it at home too,” chirps the Std IX student.
Festivals are meant to have fun. We celebrate the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance and hope over despair. May we also add inclusiveness to the list? Festivals are for everyone, old and young, healthy and unhealthy, normal and special.
The kids who are brimming with enthusiasm over celebrating Diwali are like us, but a little special. And, that’s why the thoughts they have spoken out loud, are worth cherishing.
Suraj and Santosh are students of The Poona School and Home for the Blind, while Aditi and Yash study at Ankur Vidyamandir. We chat with them, their friends, their teachers and school authorities to find out how they usher in fun and gaiety during festivals.
Moral significance
Indian festivals are rooted in our socio-cultural traditions. They have strong moral lessons to impart and therefore it becomes necessary for special kids to imbibe them. “We reinforce celebration of festivals every year. During Navratri, a few ladies came to the school on all nine days and told the students stories for each day and its significance,” says Shalini Singh, Centre Manager, Ankur Vidyamandir (AVM).
“For the Festival of Lights, the school will be staging plays based on Diwali stories. Then, they will have fun activities like lighting diyas, making forts, drawing rangolis. The day will conclude with a Diwali party,” says Leena Devare, a teacher.
At AVM, all children are treated equally. Training is accorded to them as per their requirements. “We have normal education for all the students, but the special children need a little extra impetus. That’s where the psychologists come into play, who include motor training, speech training, muscle training, math training etc for the kids,” adds Singh.
In the festive season, the students are taught to make paper bags, lanterns, clay idols, rakhis and also to paint clay lamps. “Not every student is great at studies, so we have these workshops where we teach our children different kinds of skills. There are workshops which are festival specific. For Diwali, we are teaching our kids to paint diyas and make chocolates and paper bags. They can bank on these skills to earn their livelihood,” informs Singh.
But some students find it difficult to grasp these life skills, and therefore the teacher has to rely on various training patterns. Rakesh Sanas, art and craft teacher at Ankur Vidyamandir, says, “I have been working here for the past one and a half years, and I absolutely love working with these children. Not every student is bright, so time is what you really need to invest in these students. Sometimes it takes them two to three hours to learn a craft item. Sometimes they can take three to four months. Therefore time is a variable factor here.”
“Students with disabilities like Autism, Down Syndrome have difficulties with speech. Hence the trainers follow visual education to teach them. They remember visuals very well,” adds Devare.
Factually correct
The teachers at The Poona School and Home for the Blind, Koregaon Park have to be doubly sure of the facts and information that they are sharing with their students. Once the student has learnt his lesson well, s/he will remember it all his life, and no amount of efforts can help in correcting it.
Huma Samreen Shah, a teacher, says, “Before any festival, we take special classes for the students based on their age group and tell them about the importance of that particular festival — Ganapati, Dahi Handi, Eid or Diwali — and why it is celebrated. For visually impaired children, the teacher is always right! Hence we are very, very careful when we impart them any information. In case, anyone tries to correct them, they will stick to what their teacher has taught them.”
When it comes to celebrating the festival, the entire school comes together. The students decorate their classrooms with their creations and prepare for performances. “We make our students do everything during the festival so that all the facts that we have taught them make sense to them. They decorate their classrooms with handmade decorative flowers. Also during Ganapati, we make sure every student does the aarti at least once throughout the festival,” adds Shah.
Much as the children are enthused about preparing and decking up their surroundings for the festivals, the teachers have to be patient while teaching them skills that will call in their cognitive and motor abilities. Amrut Lokhande, who teaches the visually impaired students to make artefacts says, “For Diwali, I have taught them to make lanterns and they have aced the process already. There are few students, who are a little slow as compare to others, so I take individual classes for them. They need more attention. We make sure every students feels equally involved in all the activities.”
Entitled to happiness
Sadhana Godbole, the managing director of Prasanna Autism Centre, feels it’s very important, especially for the special children, to be a part of every festivity.
“Autistic children cannot communicate or have social interaction. They have problems with speech, so they cannot express in words how a festival makes them feel. But we analyse their likes and dislikes towards something through their behaviour. Autistic children dislike loud noises, so they find it difficult to adjust to the festive atmosphere. But we make sure that they attend the festival every day, whether it’s Ganapati or Diwali, so that with time they get used to it and gradually understand the celebration,” explains Godbole.
Talking about the challenges involved in this, Godbole says that the children cannot bear harsh and loud noises. If the noise is too much, they can become aggressive and harm themselves or the people around. “What we do to counter this is to make the children sit through celebrations. Initially, they get really uncomfortable and restless, but since they follow a repeating pattern, they get used to it. We take them out during festivals. For instance, during Ganapati, when they see the idols along the roads, and in their homes and school, they relate to the event and that’s how they start getting used to the atmosphere,” she adds.
They are also made to participate in festival-related activities, like diya painting and making gift envelopes. “We want to create an environment where every student feels normal. Each of them is entitled to happiness and celebration, just like any of us,” says Godbole, on a concluding note.
Role of institutes
Prasanna Autism Centre
This centre was created in the year 2000 to cater to the special needs of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The needs of these children are quite different from the students suffering from other disabilities. Autism is a neurological and developmental disorder, present from early childhood, characterised by great difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people, in using language and abstract concepts.
The centre provides full time services to the children between 3 and 13 years of age. A pre-vocational school has been started in the year 2012 for children between 14 and 17 years of age. Therapists and psychologists are present in the school providing these children with occupational therapy, speech and behavioural therapy etc. The centre has 40 children, who are taken care of by 12 teachers.
The Poona School and Home for the Blind, Koregaon Park
This is a pioneer institution in Pune. This eight decade old institution was started by Dr S R Machave, a practising eye specialist, who worked for securing the future of visually impaired people. The students of The Poona School and Home for the Blind get all the required training which will help them lead a better life ahead. They are taught to read and write via brailer (a mechanical device to write braille). The library has over 2,000 braille books. At present, there are 177 boys studying in this school. There is a separate school and home for blind girls, which is located in Kothrud.
Ankur Vidyamandir
This is an inclusive school that believes in bringing about an educational revolution to ensure the right of equal opportunity to all. ‘Awareness, Acceptance and Assistance for all’ are the three strong pillars on which Ankur Vidyamandir has been standing strong for 30 years.
The school offers the students equal and abundant opportunities for learning and rehabilitation. It believes that they will be able to operate and contribute to society if they are made independent and to some extent, self-sufficient. Following a strict ‘no rejection’ policy for the admission of students, Ankur Vidyamandir is now a big family that includes a diverse range of students. There are special, non special, socially disadvantaged as well as severely challenged students here.
