Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Jul 16: Prasar Bharathi ex-chairman M V Kamath strongly feels that an exclusive national forum needs to be set up for the welfare of the differently-abled persons, with branches spread across all the states and union territories. This becomes extremely necessary to take care of the disabled persons who become orphans either when their parents die or when they are driven to streets and also to extend medical facilities to them to make their lives bearable, he argued.

He was addressing participants of the state-level convention of Karnataka State Special Teachers and Non-Teaching Staff organized jointly by Archana Trust and Aditi Trust at Manipal Institute of Technology on Tuesday July 15, after inaugurating the convention.

"Teaching to a disabled child essentially involves a one-to-one relationship of the teacher with the child. As such children have a different frame of mind and perception, teachers can achieve their goals only through patience, perseverance and abundant love," Kamath said.

Convener of the programme Vasant Kumar Shetty pointed out follies in the government's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, targetting the government's intention to teach retarded children in regular schools, for which the school teachers are not equipped. Most of the government schools even lack basic amenities like toilets. How do they hope to handle and train the special children?, he questioned.

Students who have passed SSLC cannot be expected to gain enough skills to handle special children with just a 10 day training course, he added. Paediatrician Dr H J Gowri, Archana Trust president Jaivittal, Aditi Trust president Sadhana Kini, DK District Special Teachers' Association president Maria Shruthi and others were present.