Sankalp Special School, Kanpur

1. Sankalp Special School,Kanpur 2018-2019 renewal

2. Background • Caters to children with special needs (autism, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, speech/language issues, mentally challenged) • Project’s goal is to nurture these kids with targeted attention and therapy so eventually they become self-sufficient • Individual progress plans for each child, 5-7 children per teacher, Physio/Speech/Behavioral therapy • Supported by Asha-SV since Fall 2009 • Asha Stars project: Like any other Asha-SV project except the funds sent are only those that have been directly donated to the project. • Asha Kanpur oversees the project (funds are sent to Asha Kanpur, they do the disbursals and monitor funds utilization); they also try to raise funds locally • FB page - https://m.facebook.com/Sankalp-Special-School-1717996268428138/?ref=bookmarks

3. Current statistics • Students -  48 • Staff   • 8 teachers for class • 1 Speech teacher (part time) • 1 Physiotherapist  (part time) • 1 Psychologist  (part time) • 1 Coordinator • 1 Vocational incharge • 2 Supporting staff • 5 Hired vans

4. Review 2017 Jan - School started on 16th Jan after the winter break. This is a slow month since the attendance remains poor due to cold. They use this time to prepare for half yearly IEP (Teaching plan for each child) and start planning for their annual day in April Feb - Annual Picnic excursion to newly made children's park. Children enjoyed a lot and participated in group games. None of them misbehaved with other people present in the park and were manageable. They had done similar excursion 5 years back but had to rush back since children were unmanageable. Since then they didnt take them out for 3 years and then last year they went to Iskcon temple as the premises were safe and nobody could go out of the temple area (crowd is minimal during day time as well). This year Dr. Dipti was bit skeptical about taking them but the teachers said they are ready to handle everything and they should try it out. It turned out to be a successful excursion Mar - Holi celebration - playing Holi with flowers, making colorful drawings, dancing and sweet distribution. This is how they celebrate Holi every year and children have lot of fun Apr - On 2nd April, they participated(along with 8 other special schools) in "abilities unlimited" which is a fun fiesta organized by Rotary club of Kanpur, industrial. Sankalpkids performed two group dances and they were highly appreciated by all. They were awarded 'Viewers Choice' and 'Most Energetic Performance Award'. The rotary group gifted the school a bean bag, a small trampoline and a balance board for use in physiotherapy. On 8th April, they celebrated School's Annual Day and children's performances were highly appreciated. There are people who come to this annual day every year and their feed back was that the standard is rising year by year and it's not just the children who are growing and getting better but they as teachers and organisers are also getting better. For Dr. Dipti this is a big achievement since for her seeing the teachers carrying out their duties in full co-ordination with minimal fuss is a treat. As per her, her job is to empower the staff and they will in turn empower the students May - The month when they prepare the annual progress reports of all the children. With these children, they do monitor changes in day by day activity but with annual report, they get a clear picture of what they are doing and how each child is responding June - Summer Vacation from 25th May to 25th June

5. July - Preparation for annual target plans for each child and Diwali sale. Also, they shuffle children from one class/group to other as per the need. On 20th July, Bank of Baroda celebrated their founders day at school and they donated a R.O machine for drinking water purification for children Aug - This is the month of celebration - Rakhi celebration, Independence day celebration and Janmashtami celebration part from other school activities Sep - On 5th September, they celebrated Teachers day. Sankalp teachers were acknowledged by fun outing - movie followed by treat at McDonalds. On 16th September, along with Yoga Association of Kanpur, Sankalporganized a drawing competition for mentally challenged children of Kanpur at Sankalp - more than 100 children from 5 special schools participated in it. The program was very well appreciated by all participants and children enjoyed a lot Oct - Dusshera and Diwali celebrations. 3 children from the school went for a drawing competition organized by Kanpur Zoo during their wild-life awareness week. Their drawings and efforts were appreciated by all and they were awarded special prizes by the director of the zoo. On 12th and 13th Oct, they organized annual Diwali sale at IIT shopping center and on 14th Oct in the school premises. The products were liked by people and almost all stuff was sold Nov - On 11th Nov, around 50 children from Delhi Public School, Kalyanpur, Kanpur visited our school and interacted with children at Sankalp. It was pleasant to see the younger generation's sensitivity and acceptance for the special children. On 14th November (Children's day), few visitors who wanted to make children happy visited the school. Sankalp also organized musical chair and fancy dress competition for children (It was great to see the involvement and enthusiasm of the parents during fancy dress competition) Dec - Rotary club of Kanpur Industrial organized sports day - Sankalp children performed very well at the event. The won a lot of medals and children were very happy. They organized an AADHAR registration camp for Sankalp's children. AADHAR is now mandatory for all citizens of India and it is not easy for parents to take these special children on public counters for this. They got 27 cards made in this camp

6. Changes made in 2017 • Started making all the major payments through bank after the demonetization and other changes that took place in India. The fees aredepositedin the Asha local account and half of the payments are made from it. The rest of the payments are made from Asha FC account. Few minor expenses are the only cash expenses now. This makes the accounts clearer and more transparent • Started a new van for bringing the children from Panki area. They got 5 admission queries from that area so we decided to start the van. They had 11 children in another van which comes from that side, so they adjusted the children so that both vans now bring 8 children and 1 teacher. • Surrendered the school van which was donated by LIC of India. The maintenance cost was increasing as well as the rules and regulations for school vehicles have become much tougher than before (like they have to get a fitness certificate and get the vehicle registered every year). All this was unnecessary burden for the school. With the rented vans, they just have to pay monthly charge and the maintenance and other cost is taken care by rental company • A new teacher who will look after the vocational work

7. Challenges and Future Plans • Aim is to increase the number of children at school but the challenge is to have more space and arrange for conveyance of the children (public transport is not an option) • Expansion by • - starting out-patient services • - starting services for children with learning disabilities (who otherwise go to normal schools) • - starting a Centre for training special education teachers • Upgrade the quality of teaching material. Currently the teaching material that is being used is prepared by teachers as per the need or existing articles are innovatively used for different purposes. They tried using different materials but they were getting almost similar results. Instead of that teachers are using their imaginations to create things out of articles easily available • Employing people who have better qualifications • Start running the vocational unit. The challenge is to find few trades where they can sell the manufactured goods in bulk. Dr. Deepti has employed a separate teacher who will be in charge of the vocational unit. She will see that there is enough and timely supply of all the raw material needed for the production, monitor the production speed and quality and will also look after the sales part. To begin with, they are planning to manufacture craft items like they do for Diwali sale but it will be on a larger scale and aim is to put up about 5 - 6 sales at various places during the whole year. This can be used for marketing and creating avenues to sale other things

8. Financials

9. Budget for Jan 2018-Dec 2018 *we are giving very high salary to the sweeper because his work and behavior is very good and he wanted at least this much money to support his family. Since we were not getting any replacement (he cleans the toilets and also the children who are not toilet trained, and this is something nobody is ready to do since few16-18 year boys are not toilet trained). So now, he helps the physiotherapy teacher in handling grown up children also which I believe justifies his salary. Plus he also helps the teachers during outdoor games time

10. Success Stories • Zeeshan Ali - He is 26yrs old boy who came to us 2 years back. He had never been to any school and was living in village. When he came to us, he could manage to do his personal work like eating, toileting and dressing etc but He had no sense of cleanliness at all. He had no idea of basic cleanliness like washing face and hands, cleaning his mouth after eating, wearing clean cloths etc. He had no idea of front and back side of cloths and used to wear them in whatever way he could. on testing, He was found to be having moderate mental retardation. He also had severe behavioral problems at that time. He used to keep shouting at whoever tried to interact with him, or at times, He used to laugh unnecessarily and used to beat and harm other children. now, He has stabilized and all his behavioral issues have resolved. He nicely interacts with other children and follows all orders. He dresses up nicely now and likes to dress up as per the occasion. He is not very much interested in academic work but He likes to learn other things of practical use. He can do "kachchasilai" to repair cloths and likes to see pictures in book. He greets everyone who goes in his class with a smile and even waits for his turn. He had danced very well in our annual function last year. (hanikarakbapu clipping that is on facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Radiosangini.Ranjana.Yadav/videos/1011550525642277/ ) • Deepanshu Seth - He is 20 years boy with severe autism. although deepanshu has been in Sankalp since 9 ywears, his severe behavioural rigidity has been a problem due to which we were not able to do much work with him. He belongs to a well off family and both parents are working. They never listened to our advice regarding how to train the child and yielded to his all justified and unjustified demands. now, when He is grown up and became aggressive and caused a lot of trouble at home, the parents have started following few advices. this is the first winter when He is wearing full pants and shoes (otherwise, as is the characteristic of autism, he resisted changes and did not switch over to full shirt and full pant in winter. and He always wore the same sandals during summers as well as winters). the parents used to buy 3 or 4 sets of same colour clothes if they wanted him to change clothes. otherwise, He would not change even his undergarments and wear same undergarments day after day. however now, He has started wearing different colour clothes (He chooses 1 dress of his choice out of 3 options given to him now-a-days). this softening is evident in all his activities now. earlier He used to do things in his own way and never followed any orders but now He has started following orders and obeys his teacher as well as few other teachers. • Bulbul Mishra - bulbul is 19 years old girl and She is with us since 10 years. She has down's syndrome and has mild mental retardation. She has grown up very nicely and helps her mother in all household work like cooking, washing etc. her mother has severe arthritis and her elder sister got married last year. so now if her mother sits at one place and keeps instructing her, bulbul manages quite a lot of household work. i won't say that we have trained her for this, but the parents have always been very open to suggestions and trained her as per what they were advised. they discussed their ideas with the teachers too and the net result is that the child is as helpful for the mother as the other daughter!

11. Success Stories • Milan - Milan is a 11 years old child with down's syndrome and has mild mental retardation with speech deficit. He has joined us in November only. what i want to mention about him is that his cousin sister is a news reporter in a hindi newspaper. She came to me once to write a story about Sankalp. She was so influenced that she went back to her ancestral village and motivated the family to get Milan admitted to school anyhow... the family took about a year to make up their mind and do all the necessary arrangements. they have now rented a house near Sankalp and the mother has started living here with Milan. Mialn is a bright boy and He won gold medal in both games events in which He participated in the rotary sports in December. the mother was so happy to see that even this child is getting appreciation • KratikaSonwani - She is a 16 years old girl with mild mental retardation and uncontrolled epilepsy. She is with us since last 2 years. since her mother has expired and the father has private job which demands a lot of time, Kratika was left under the care of her aunt (chachi). due to some reason, the father decided to put kratika in a boarding school in Delhi in last April. I can't say whether this is good or bad but Kratika refused to stay there and said that She wanted to come to Sankalp only. they waited for 6 months for her to settle there but then, She came back home and is again coming to Kanpur. (She has written a letter to me in her own writing which I am attaching.. it is such a boost for my ego!!) • Bharat - He is Dr. Deepti'sson! He is 19 years old and has moderate mental retardation with motor incoordination and uncontrolled epilepsy. He has developed severe behavioral issues because of the family issues going on. He has become very stubborn and wants things according to him only. at home, He doesn't listen to what is being said to him easily and doesn't want to do anything by himself. He had become very cranky and aggressive too. but the teachers made him follow their orders and paint divas for Diwali sale! (https://www.facebook.com/deepti.mishra.376/videos/1310267678985233/ ). As a mother, it is not that his painting a diva or even 10 divas would make any difference in our lives but still, seeing him do that instills a ray of hope in her. It is like if He can do this, He will definitely learn to do more with time, otherwise, it is hard to remain hopeful and positive when the child is being so difficult to manage at home

12. Site Visit I went today with my brother, took chocolates and cookies for the kids which I gave to Dr. Deeptito distribute. Everyone was preparing for the sports day on 24th :) Some observations:
 1. Address on google maps on typing "Sankalp Day Care" is incorrect (old address), google maps couldn't find the address on the project page. Update the correct address everywhere 2. Construction was over and all the material related to it was gone, the place seems well built now. FYI, there is a guest house on the top but most of the functions there are during the night 3. Dr. Deepti was saying that she left her hospital work yesterday since it was getting very hectic. She will now try to focus here. She came today to the school after a long time 4. She had a lot of other monetization plans to scale this after the school gets over for the day for the kids with speech disabilities etc and for the kids whose parents don't want to send their kids to the school but to get some kind of therapy done for may be an hour or so 5. Kids seemed very happy like the last time. One kid when asked about his homework got scared a bit as in to avoid being hit but I am guessing that's regular student teacher relationship 6. Everyone really seemed very friendly with each other and overall a good environment. Classes were clean, one of the classes had a computer which few of them use to type 7. On asked about success stories, Dr. Deepti asked the teachers for progress report from teachers which is still in progress but as she said and I agree most kids are don't seem like they will have an extra ordinary success except one or two 8. Most of them will require lifelong supervision but as DrDeepti said the only thing here is that in the school they meet similar kind of people and have good friends there 9. The sports day on 24th is organized by Rotary club of Kanpur which organizes an inter school sports event and has special events for kids with disabilities. Dr. Deepti was telling that they are very kind to the organization and give 10, 000 Rsevery time which really helps them. Last time they bought water purifier, etc with it and this time they are planning to buy/replace some furniture with that money. Kids also enjoy it a lot since they get recognized there 10. She also mentioned that she will now slowly try to increase teachers salary Cheers!