COIMBATORE: If there is one thing that can make institutions for children with disabilities happy today, it is finance. A handful of these schools for children with multiple disabilities are experiencing severe financial crunch. These are the institutions that cater to disabled children from economically weak backgrounds.

"The education and maintenance of one child will come up to at least Rs.1,500 a month," says Prema V.Joseph, Managing Trustee of the Coimbatore Spastic Trust. "And most of the children cannot afford to pay even Rs.100 as fees," she adds.

Disabled children need a lot more teaching aids such as visual, auditory and sensory equipment and most of the institutions struggle to cover the costs involved in procuring them. The speech, physical and occupational therapy for these children is expensive and in the case of those from very poor families, sponsorships from the public are the only way out, Ms. Prema says.

Many institutions encourage the public to sponsor at least one child so that its educational and personal needs can be taken care of. The sensory equipment used to teach an autistic child can cost even more than Rs.10,000, says Geeta Raja, Founder of the Autism Day Care Centre. "Autistic children require a lot of such sensory materials to grasp their lessons," she adds.

Amrit The Society for the Aid of the Handicapped has come out with a few sponsorship schemes. Public can sponsor a physically or mentally disabled child for a year, sponsor a meal or the fuel expenses of the transport facility arranged for its students.

Other necessities such as teaching aids, materials for classrooms - (mats and chairs) can also be sponsored, says J Kala. R, Special Projects Officer of the Society.

A majority of the physically disabled children stop studies after class VIII. "They prefer getting trained in some vocational course and earn rather than continue their education. If there were people to come forward to sponsor the education of these children, they can earn better jobs," she adds. The society has also started an awareness campaign on disability in co-ordination with students of social work.

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