KEEN LEARNER: Chaitra is being taught at home by Jayanthi under the inclusive education for the disabled scheme of Sarva Shikshana Abhiyana in Mangalore.

MANGALORE: Eleven-year-old Chaithra can recite poems, count up to 20 and identify Kannada alphabets although she has cerebral palsy. She began regular education only two months ago.

She is one of the 29 children in the city who are being educated at home under the Inclusive Education for the Disabled (IED) scheme of Sarva Shikshana Abhiyan.

According to Kumudini, an inclusive education resource teacher, five of 29 children are bedridden. They are provided special education that focusses on simple life skills, rather than academic learning. For instance, a child is taught how to brush her teeth or wash her face without assistance and, gradually, some poems and games. Regular education from first standard is provided at home for other physically challenged children whose main problem is commuting.

The names of these children are registered in a nearby government school. They appear for examinations conducted by the school. An attempt will be made to make these children start attending regular school after some time, says Ms. Kumudini. Last year, 35 children were taught at home. Six of them now attend regular school.

Volunteers who have completed their SSLC or PUC are appointed to teach these children. In some special cases of extreme disability, the mother, if qualified, might be appointed as the teacher.

According to Vanitha Shetty, a volunteer who teaches Chaithra, the children are taught some basic skills after which the tutors start with the regular first standard syllabus. The children are taught for two or three hours a day for two days a week under the programme, she says.

Chaithra's mother, Vedavathi, who rolls beedis for a living, says there is a lot of improvement since these classes began. "I now feel its possible for her to learn", she says.

According to Geeta, assistant project officer, Sarva Shikshana Abhiyan, 420 students in the district have been covered under the scheme.

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