Kalam Express set to chug off Panchkula

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, August 14

After Jind and Chandigarh, the Kalam Express, a school on wheels for children with special needs, will be rolled out in Panchkula tomorrow. Haryana Governor Prof Kaptan Singh Solanki will launch the special vehicle during the Independence Day celebrations at the Sector 5 Parade Ground. 

Giving details about the project, Panchkula SDC auri Parashar Joshi, said the project was first started in Jind when she was posted as the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Jind. Later, it was launched in Chandigarh and now Haryana Governor Prof Kaptan Singh Solanki would flag off the Kalam Express, a school on wheels for children with special needs tomorrow, she added. 

The first such school was launched by an IAS couple — Ajit Balaji Joshi, the then DC Jind, and Gauri Parashar Joshi, the then ADC, Jind, in Jind in 2015. Since then, more than 200 special children have enrolled at the school. 

Later, when Ajit Balaji Joshi was posted as the Chandigarh DC, the city’s first mobile school was launched on June 23, 2016. The second such vehicle was launched in Chandigarh on July 13 this year. 

How it works

The team goes door to door in slum areas to provide education to special children who are unable to attend school. The service is free and has brought many children into the mainstream. It caters to visually impaired, hearing, speech impaired and the mentally challenged children. The teaching methods vary depending on the IQ of the child. For physically challenged children, a set of basic movements is required to ascertain the movement of their joints after proper assessment by a physiotherapist. Families are taught helpful techniques and are asked to regularly practise it with the kids.