Deaf Aid Society Site Visit Report

Visit to Deaf Aid Society 
US Chapter: Asha Seattle

Compiled by Janardhan

Date: 5th July 2000 . 


I visited the Sheila Kothavala Institute for the Deaf (SKID) today morning and spent 90 minutes checking up on the various points mentioned in the e-mails sent to me.

Mrs Krishna Basu introduced me to the following persons:

1)Mrs Margaret Joseph,Principal of the Institute

2)Mrs Asha Dey,Secretary of the Executive Committee (EC) of the Institute

3)Wg Cdr M.Raza Shirazi(Retd),Member, EC and a Trustee

Mrs Krishna Basu is a Joint Secretary of the EC.

Mrs Joseph took me around the classes,which commence at 9 am daily.Different sponsorers provide transport facilities to the students to commute to the school.

Children admitted to the Nursery Class are in the age group 3 yrs to 5 yrs,but could be as old as 7 yrs,depending on the gravity of the disability.These students are kept in the Nursery class for 3 years to expose them to the rudiments of learning.This period is required,as the students are fully or partially deaf and also have speech impairment, caused by deafness.

After the orientation at the Nursery class for 3 years,the students go stage by stage from the first standard to the tenth standard.They are progressively prepared to take the State S.S.L.C.exams.Apart from the core subjects (English,Mathematics,Science,History, Geography etc),the curriculum provides for auditory training and speech.I saw a couple of foreign speech therapist helping the students.The teachers are also given special training in Deaf Education.

There are presently 171 students and 23 teachers.Out of 23 teachers,18 take the regular classes,while 5 are multi-purpose.The lower classes are handled by teachers who have a PUC background .The higher classes are handled by graduates who have a B.Ed also.All teachers are trained at the school and hold a Diploma in Deaf Education.

The medium of instruction is English.As a special concession,the students are exempted from studying a second language and learn only English.

The students come from the lower strata of society.No fee is charged.However they have to bear a part of the cost of the hearing aid,which the Institute purchases at a subsidized rate from Siemens.

The students also undergo a special computer education program organized by School Net,for which each student pays Rs 12/-a month.

The existing teachers have been continuing for a long time.Since there is no need for further teachers,the teacher-training programme is temporarily suspended.

A revelation to me was that the students are not only hearing-impaired,but also speech-impaired.The explanation given to me was that,as the students cannot hear their own voice,they do not speak,though not dumb.They have to be trained to speak.As they have not used their tongues,the tongues don't move properly and therefore words are difficult to articulate.They do not know what they are pronouncing,as they are deaf.Hence.not only has their deafness to be tackled.but they have to be helped to speak.This is a difficult task for the teachers.

The school building has a ground,first and second floor.There is no dearth of classrooms. All classrooms have benches,chairs.There are 2 rooms for computer-training.There is also a big hall where vocational training is provided in modeling,painting,tailoring etc.A nearby printing press trains the students in composing,printing etc.

I was told that there are a number of such schools for deaf children in Bangalore and in Karnataka.A nearby school is run by a politician,who manages to grab substantial govt grants.The Kothavala Institute,being managed by non-political,highly-educated and respectable citizens,has no political clout with govt and so struggles to get govt funding.

I was told that govt grant is paid once in 2 years only,for which a lot of chasing up is necessary.This grant meets most of the salary needs,but does not take care of operating expenses,for which donations are sought.

Most of the chasing up of govt and municipality is done by Wg Cdr Raza Shirazi,a very genial,ever-smiling person.This gentleman was explaining to me the ordeals in getting clearances from the Bangalore Corporation for the proposed water and sanitation project. First the corporation demanded Rs 4 lakhs for according clearances for the supply of drinking water and sewage connections.Since the Corporation Commissioner fortunately happened to be a schoolmate of Wg Cdr Shirazi,this amount was reduced to 1.5 lakhs. Next,as the locality has recently been transferred to Corporation from the HAL Sanitary Board,the Institute was asked to pay betterment charges of Rs 8 lakhs.Wg Cdr Shirazi will be meeting the Corporation Commissioner shortly to get this amount waived,as the Institute is a Charitable one.There are some more administrative hurdles to be crossed, like Katha Transfer etc.Wg Cdr is patiently going through these processes.

With regard to the Institute's request for funding for the specific project of

i)Providing potable drinking water

ii)Providing underground sewage lines,

I would like to mention the following:

1)The Institute has one borewell within its premises.Water from this well is not potable and can be used only for washing.Even this borewell is on the verge of drying up.Presently, potable water is being brought daily in pots by servants from other places.To get Corporation water supply,the Institute has to connect up its internal piping system to the Corporation's proposed main 4" water line,which is expected to be laid shortly between the airport road and the cluster of houses and offices that have cropped up towards the airport runway.Corporation sanction is required for tapping water from the 4" main line.After this sanction is obtained,a 1'' pipe will be laid to draw water from the Corporation main line and store it in a sump nearby.The sump has to be constructed. Water from the sump will need to be pumped to an overhead tank for distribution to various places.Both the pump and the overhead tank have to be provided.Thus funds are required for payment to the contractor,who will provide the sump,the pump,the overhead tank,the internal piping and the connection to the Corporation main water line.

2)Presently sewage water from the Institute is taken out through soil pipes to a nearby nala outside the Institute's compound wall.As there is no Corporation sewage distribution system presently,the sewage is kept accumulating in the nala.However,Corporation is expected to provide shortly underground sewage lines to the cluster of houses and offices near the Institute.Sanction has to be taken for laying underground sewage lines within the Institute and integrating them with the proposed Corporation sewage lines.The laying of these internal sewage lines and connecting them to the Corporation sewage system has to be done by a contractor.

The Contractor's estimate for (1) and (2) together with the Corporation charges for sanctions come to Rs 2.4 lakhs.The Institute will provide Rs 0.4 lakh.The balance of Rs 2 lakhs has to come from external funds.

I have seen the Contractor's estimates and drawings and am satisfied that the estimates are reasonable.

I am convinced that Asha would be eminently justified in taking up this project for funding.The Institute is very ably managed and has excellent credentials.

If Asha agrees to fund the above project,the payments in dollars may be sent to 

Mrs Krishna Basu,

1 A, Palm Grove Place,

23,Palmgrove Road,Bangalore-560047.

Cheques may be made payable to DEAF AID SOCIETY.

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