New Delhi, December 3
At a time when children of several “high society” schools are travelling in luxurious buses and sitting in the most comfortable class rooms with all the “five-star” facilities, there are some children who don’t even have a bus to go to their school. And the reason is that the government has not been forthcoming with financial assistance to a number of mentally challenged schools across the Capital.

One such school is Sahan, a special school run by an NGO, Federation for the Welfare of the Mentally Retarded.

For two years, Sahan, which has about 100 students on its rolls, has not received any financial help from the government, said Ms Vasanthi Pai, chairperson of the FWMR. “We have no money to run the school at all. Though we don’t want to shut it down because we started it for a noble cause and we would be most disappointed if we quit half way. But the insensitivity of the authorities have left us with no other choice,” Pai told NCR Tribune.

Till two years ago, the FWMR got about 8.5 lakh annually from the government to run the special school for the handicapped children.

Pai said even that amount was insufficient to run the school. “But even then we were quite happy that at least the government is supporting us in our mission. We have to pay the staff. Moreover, we don’t charge fees from everyone. There are several cases where we are paying from our own pockets as fees for the children who really cannot afford.”

Pai alleged that the officials from the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry that came to inspect the school before the grant of money were absolutely apathetic. “They had no clue as to what special education is all about. All they told us was that we have a lot of extra staff and we must reduce them. For five handicapped children there should be one teacher, otherwise it becomes impossible to concentrate on these special children.”

About 25 parents have withdrawn their children from the school because of the lack of commuting facilities for the children. There is just one bus that is available to the school for about 100 children. In the circumstances, the FWMR workers are finding it extremely difficult to manage the financial expenditure for running the school.

Sahan is not the only school that has not received any financial grants from the government. Pai said there were several other special schools in the Capital that are struggling against the government to get what is their due.

Pai said it was a pity that the government was taking so much time in lending a hand to support such needy NGOs. “There are schools where children go in air-conditioned buses and sit in well decorated class rooms. They have no dearth of money. But where money is really needed the government has a thousand reasons to hold it back.”

Explaining the government position, an official of the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry, on condition of anonymity, said: “We are aware of the problem. But because many of the officials of the ministry have been recently changed, we don’t know the details of the problem. It may take some time but justice would be done.”

Taking a broader view, however, Pai said the government was not the only section of our society that is to be blamed for the apathetic state. “It is also us, the people, that are even less supportive. Parents of children in our school refuse to give donations. They don’t support us in any way. Even if there is a function in the school they would expect free tickets. We don’t need the government’s money if the parents, the people around us, come and join us in our venture. We are not talking about a lot of money. We are talking about just a Small amount that everyone can contribute and things would be much better.”

Pai said a parent would spend lakhs of rupees for a normal child’s admission in the best school but wouldn’t give a penny to a special school for their challenged child. “It is a shame. I feel sorry and even more disgusted that not even a handful of people understand that a mentally challenged child is as much a part of our society as we are,” she said.