Pics by Sphoorty Ullal
 
Mangalore, Jun 25: (DHNS) The scene was quite contrasting from the regular events. Here the specially abled children sang, danced, exhibited their spirit while the people’s representatives, parents, teachers and others watched these children bursting up with enthusiasm. 
 

It was indeed a special day for the special children, their teachers and parents. Whole of the crowd were in a mood of celebration for the time being, keeping aside their pains and frustrations.

The event was - ‘Spandana 2010,’ a State-level conference of Special Educators and Supportive Staff that was held in Town Hall on Tuesday. Presiding over the programme, MLA Yogish Bhat said that keeping in view the efforts of special teachers and supportive staff members, the government has sanctioned Rs 20 crore for the special schools in the previous budget. “With the sanctioning of the amount to the special school teachers, who were otherwise working for a minimum wage, the teachers can henceforth breathe a sigh of relief as they will be paid with a decent amount. Moreover, even the children suffering from disabilities will be given a monthly honourarium of Rs 600 and those children who are found with acute problems (above 75% disability) will be granted with a sum of Rs 1,000 per month,” he said.

Adding to it, he said that a petition will be handed over to the Chief Minister urging him to fulfill the further demands of the association. “A team consisting of teachers and special children and people’s representatives will meet the Chief Minister in a near future demanding him to provide all the necessary facilities for the children,” he said.

MLA Capt Ganesh Karnik appreciated the efforts of the association in bringing the special children and the teachers to the forefront. Stressing on the title of the conference ‘Spandana,’ he said that the conference would definitely succeed in finding the required response from the government as per the expectations.

More than 1,000 participants who took part in the whole day’s event found the conference a very successful one. “The teachers who work for these special children behind the screen are doing a great amount of service for which they were paid with a minimum wage. Finally, the day has come where these teachers too can obtain a decent amount for their selfless work,” opined Antharganga Institution (Kolar) Administrator K S Shankar.

MLA U T Khader, Handicapped and Senior Citizens Welfare Department Director M V Savithri, Prof K R Venkatesh, Usha Jagirdar, Vasanth Kumar Shetty and others  were present.

For the first time in the State an event for this cause was held and the day witnessed discussions, interactions about various matters.