ASHA KA JHARNA
Annual Activity Report
April 2014 to March 2015
This is an annual activity report of Asha Ka Jharna (AKJ) special schools
from April 2014 to March 2015. The report is aimed to depict, describe and
list various activities that were performed by children, staff and community
members during this period. The report also illustrates the various events
organized by the organization, visits of prominent personalities, awards,
honors and accreditations received etc.
Annual Board Examinations (April 2014)
59 of our children took their annual board examinations under ‘National
Institute of Open Schoolings’ and cleared their levels A, B and C
(equivalent to grade 8) with good grades.
Parents Teacher Meet (6th May)
Greater parent engagement is an indispensable factor in any rehabilitation
strategy. Child stays for 5-6 hours in the school and rest of the day she is in
the family. Reinforcement (of the training being provided by us) must take
place at home so that generalization of the IETP (Individualized Education
& Training Program) Goals selected happen. This puts a greater role on the
parents and siblings. Unfortunately, child does not receive desired
concentration often at home due to a variety of reasons. Some are
perceived and stereotyped like child being remained as a burden
throughout life or non-acceptance of rehab methods or expecting a miracle
overnight (like some medicine) while in some homes , increased family size
or absence of key child care taker or economic constraints play the
spoilsport. Most of our children are from lowest income strata; families of
whom are more concerned about earning two square meals. Bringing these
kids to any kind of education requires lot of persuasion and efforts on our
part. Constant hammering through regular home visits, parent - teacher
meet is one way. Another one is to show them tangible benefits not only in
education, self-help skills, communication, social, cognitive domains but
also linking the children to social security schemes and concessions
available.
Just before children summer vacations, on 6th May, Parents Teacher Meet
was organized at Asha Ka Jharna Nawalgarh special school where lot of
interaction was done. We stressed upon greater family participation and
involvement with their kids. Importance of forming a parent group for
realization of their rights and regularity in attendance was also
communicated. Individual issues of parents like logistics & transportation
from home to school, behavior problem at home etc were discussed and
solutions found. This exercise was in addition to the monthly home visits of
our special educators .Idea is to connect and instill a sense of commitment
for their own special needs children.
Total of 36 parents representing 44 children participated.
National Championship:
A group of 8 intellectually challenged children (4 Boys & 4 Girls) is also
practicing BOCEE (a sporting team event) to take part in Patna (Bihar)
Special Olympics National Games to be held during third week of July. On
18th May, six athletes participated in state games at Chirawa where they
won gold medal in Badminton.
Art Based Therapy Course:
Art Based Therapy (ABT) is being practiced by our Sikar staff member Ms
Suman Tailor. After returning from first contact programme in January, she
made an assessment format with ABT focused tools as directed. She
attended second contact programme at Pune during third week of April
where this was discussed threadbare. After returning she was assigned to
develop a practical project for her group of eight intellectually challenged
kids with ABT sessions as inputs. This was done and validated by her
faculty. Now she will be executing same during July to September when
school reopens and will be mentored by her guide. Her goal is to develop
social & expressive skills, speech and behavior modification through
narratives, articulation and therapeutics.
Staff Training Workshop:
Our team of special educators, physiotherapists, assistant educators,
caregivers, computer and vocational instructor and support/admin staff
deserve all accolades for the progress witnessed because they provide the
inputs very patiently. There being no structured common curriculum, one
has to apply her mind and creativity while focusing on individual child
learning areas. Special education is one such field where heart matters
more than anything else. Connect to the child is the key. Fortunately we
have got and developed such colleagues who work with the kids not only
professionally but also empathetically.
On 4th June, Capacity Building Training Workshop was organized at our
Nawalgarh unit where 25 teaching staff members from three special
schools assembled. Ms Suman Tailor, ABT practitioner explained the
various techniques of using art, music, and dance, drama to improve upon
cognitive, listening, expressive and motor skills of special needs children.
Lot of interaction and doubts clearing was there with Senior Technical
Adviser Ms Monalisa Mehta in attendance. Strategic & logistics issues were
also addressed. Review of ongoing children identification survey and
linking them with education was done. Planning & execution of multifaceted activities for the children was shared among all.
Updation Survey:
During the children summer vacations, staff at Nawalgarh, Sikar and
Jhunjhunu schools was engaged in various tasks like making assessment
reports, designing teaching & learning aids, doing home visits, disability
database updating survey. We are pleased to observe that our continuous
intense counselling and awareness campaign yielded results and we were
able to identify more than 35 new special children in Nawalgarh and
surrounding area. Youngest of these is about 3 year old. We are in process
of making logistics, transport arrangement as well as assessment and
section distribution of new enrolled children. Educable children database
was updated similarly at other two units.
Helping the Special Girl Getting Justice
We periodically receive request from local Police and Judiciary to help in
case any victim is child with special needs and is unable to express herself.
Our special educators act as interpreter/counsellor/advisor whatever the
situation demands. During July also, our staff translated the thoughts of a
10 year old girl in the court who was sexually assaulted.
Participation at Junoon (6-7 September)
Junoon is a unique sporting extravaganza for the specially-abled children
organized by NSS and the Sports Council of BITS Pilani since last three
years. Objective is to promote equality by encouraging participation and
providing a platform for the specially-abled to showcase their talent to the
more privileged section of the society. 'Junoon 2014' was a two day Sports
event, It saw a participation of nearly 200 special needs children at 8 NGOs
from Chirawa, Pilani, Delhi, Jaipur and our three units ,all fighting for
sporting glory. There were various sporting events like Cricket, Volleyball,
Basketball, Badminton, Bocce and Athletics. Besides, a cultural evening
called 'Junoon Nite' was organized depicting their cultures and abilities in
the form of dance or small acts. 25 children from Asha Ka Jharna excelled
in all the events they participated and bagged 30 medals. Our team was
also winner in ‘Unified Cricket Match’ played between special children and
BITS Engineering students.
National Award Felicitation (10th September)
A moment of glory came when Asha Ka Jharna was awarded as The
National Trust ‘Best Voluntary Organization’ (working for intellectually
challenged in the country) which was conferred to us by Minister of Social
Justice & Empowerment, Government of India, Sh Sudarshan Bhagat and
other dignitaries at New Delhi MC Convention Hall. Function was attended
by more than 400 organizations across the nation who all deeply
appreciated our doing tireless services since last 17 years. Earlier in 2009,
we were awarded as BEST NGO in the state (Disability Sector) by
Rajasthan Government.
Networking With Local Community
We work closely in the community we serve. We interacted and invited
Bharat Vikas Parishad members and students from MODI University. They
spent time with our children and learnt fine prints.
Cultural Performance at regional Games (15th September)
A group of 12 hearing impaired children from our Sikar School gave a
mesmerizing cultural performance at SMS Stadium, Jaipur during opening
ceremony of Regional Games organized by Special Olympics India. They
got a standing ovation from all those present on a patriotic dance skit.
Observation of Mental Health Day (10th October)
Mental Health Day was organized in association with District Legal Service
Authority Jhunjhunu. District Judge Sh Rajkumar Bhagat , CJM Ms
Manisha Singh , RJS Trainee Magistrates and Dr Jai Singh (Mental
Physician) attended the program which saw the gathering of more than 100
parents and children. They enlightened the gathering about mental health
act provisions and counselling services. We lectured about the child rights
and Govt schemes & entitlements for the children available in the state.
Children Health Check Up (11th October)
A regular health checkup camp was organized at Nawalgarh where a team
of medical professionals overviewed the health indicators (body weight,
height, oral hygiene, ENT, eye sight and detection of any chronic disease)
of all 60 children. Medicines were prescribed to few children for minor
ailments like bed wetting, ear discharge, tooth decay and follow up was
done in old cases.
National Abylampics Competition (3rd – 5th November)
National Abilympic Association of India formulates and implements policies
to propagate Abilympics – The Olympics of Abilities aimed at creating
public awareness and to nurture the productive talents of persons with
disabilities by providing them opportunities to acquire and enhance their
vocational skills to achieve economic independence.
National meet and competitions in vocational and leisure and living skills
were organized by NAAI in Chandigarh where winners from regional/zonal
level competitions were invited. Master Murari Lal Soni, Hearing Impaired
Youth from Asha Ka Jharna who was winner in Central Zone Regional held
earlier at Gwalior, participated in the category ‘Poster Designing on
Computer’. Contestants were given on the spot theme on which they had to
draw poster on given software in allotted time period. Murari designed a
good one on ‘Female Feticide’ and got appreciation certificate among 20
participants from India.
ABT (Arts-Based Therapy) Completion (5th November)
ABT Course Completion Ceremony was held at Pune. Thereafter, Ms
Suman Tailor from Asha Ka Jharna, Sikar, whom we had sponsored for this
course, joined the select group of 200 ABT practitioners working across 25
locations and more than 100 organizations in India. ABT is the evidencebased use of art forms to accomplish individualized goals within a
therapeutic relationship. ABT is primarily an art form, practised
scientifically, and based on the Subtle Energy Guide (SEG), using methods
from music, drama and visual art.
Suzok & Yoga Orientation Workshop (15th November)
Capacity Building Training Workshop was organized at our Nawalgarh unit
where renowned Suzok therapist Sh Pawan Jhunjhunwala from Surat
trained our staff members about suzok, acupressure techniques and
benefits to children by applying these. He also briefed about different asana
to be practiced. Staff learnt a lot and has started using these in morning
assembly which has evolved really well with multi-faceted activities being
executed using tools in Physical Training, Yoga, Meditation, Art, Music and
Dance & Drama to improve upon cognitive, listening, expressive and motor
skills of special needs children.
Hearing Aid Mold Measurement Camp (19th November)
AKJ in partnership with ‘Starkey Hearing Foundation, USA’ organized
another Ear Mold Measurement & Hearing Diagnostic Camp in which
impressions of 135 children with speech & hearing impairment were taken
for designing the mould. Senior audiologist Ms Neha Singh, Mr Vaibhav
and Saurabh from Starkey along with AKJ staff members did the
assessment. Apart from our three schools, children from other places were
also called by us. Now, during March 2015, High Quality behind the Ear
(BTE) Hearing Aids would be distributed at Jaipur to the screened children.
After completion of this, during last five years , free distribution of BTE Aids
along with ear mould (worth nearly 162 Lacs INR) to 595 children across
the surrounding region would have been made thus gifting them Virtue of
Sound leading to Speech.
National Parents Meet (20th-23rd November)
Being an Executive Committee Member of PARIVAAR ‘National
Confederation of more than 240 Parent Associations of Persons with
Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities’, we have been constantly hand
holding the parents / siblings of special needs children. National Parents
Meet was organized at Ranchi this year in which we participated and
gained insights. It was a good networking platform with around 500
delegates gathered across the country deliberated on diverse issues
concerning PWIDDs. We shared our views and put status report of
Rajasthan which was widely lauded.
World Day for Disabled (3rd December)
On the occasion of ‘World Day for Disabled’, many activities were
organized by us at Jhunjhunu and Sikar. 110 special needs children from
AKJ Nawalgarh and Jhunjhunu along with 50 children from five regular
schools participated in an awareness rally which was flagged off by
Assistant Director, Department of Social Justice & Empowerment and
President, Lions Club. In this rally which passed through main market and
prominent parts of the town, children were carrying play cards and banners
depicting rights of those with special needs. More than 2000 persons from
local community on the way encouraged them simultaneously got
sensitized themselves.
Subsequently, at our special school campus, to promote inclusion among
regular & special children, various sporting & cultural events were executed
including 50/100 mtr race, spoon race, musical chair, three-legged race,
sack race, long & high jump, tug-o-war etc. Drawing & Painting competition,
solo and group dance were also planned. Each child was given a gift &
lunch packet. On this day, nearly 50 parents were also present whom we
briefed about rights and schemes available for their special wards.
Similar event was organized at Sikar also. Local ward member & Director
of a play school flagged off the awareness rally which was followed by
activities between special and regular children. Total of 100 children
participated there all of whom were provided gift and snacks.
Regional Parents Meet (19th-21st December)
Regional Parents Meet was held at Ajmer in which more than 180 parents
from the states of MP, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh learnt various
dimensions of need for building parents’ network, self-advocacy, skill
development and vocational training, early intervention, self-help groups,
legal capacity, improving quality of lives and such issues. Mr Sudeep
Goyal, as a resource person took a session on importance of early
intervention in which he explained nuances of EI. This session was highly
interactive with many questions raised from the parents. Parents from AKJ
also participated as delegates there.
Skills Training & Employability Workshop (19th December)
A workshop jointly organized by Youth4Jobs & Disha at Jaipur was
attended by our technical advisor. Objective of this workshop was to make
us aware of a novel program aimed at enhancing skills & ensure
employment for special abled youth. This organization ties up with different
corporates to identify job opportunities and then training the special youth
between 18 – 30 years in skill sets needed to perform. They have just
started operations in Rajasthan. We counseled the parents back home
accordingly.
Nature Study & Adventure Camp (18th – 23rd December)
Ten Special Children (Five Mentally Challenged & Five Hearing Impaired)
along with two special educators from Asha Ka Jharna Nawalgarh & Sikar
units attended one week Nature Study & Adventure Camp at Darjeeling
(West Bengal) at Murre forest. They did mountaineering, rock climbing,
expedition of jungle and river, research on flora & fauna, ropeway & net
maneuvering and many such adventurous tasks. More than 200 special
needs children across the country participated in this annual camp
organized by Himalayan Nature & Adventure Club, Siliguri. This year was
their 24th affair and our fourth participation. This was a once in a life time
opportunity for our kids who ventured first time in their lives out of their
homes; experienced long train journey; saw river, mountains, tea gardens,
hilly animals; met children from other states; shared their cultures &
traditions. They were an enlightened lot and confident bunch after their
return.
Lions Club Members Sensitization
On 13th January 2015, one day sensitization program was organized for
Lions Club Members at both Nawalgarh & Sikar schools. Regional
Chairperson, Club president and many members assembled, distributed
sweets, blankets and kites to special children on the occasion of Makar
Sankranti. We explained in details about various nuances of special
education, therapeutic intervention, policies and schemes etc. We asked
for their support in identifying and referring eligible children in their localities
to our special schools.
Supervision & Mentoring Visit By THF
Ms Jagrity Sharan & Ms Shabina Bano ,Program Managers from ‘The Hans
Foundation’ (Our Funding Partner) visited and stayed for three days from
15th to 17th January here at AKJ. They oversaw the school activities right
from the morning assembly; interacted with children and staff members;
reviewed our organization policies and documentation procedures. They
held a brainstorming intensive session with all of our team at both schools.
Some good productive suggestions were received from them which are
being implemented.
Review Meetings with District Officials
Secretary, Asha Ka Jharna Mr Sudeep Goyal in the capacity of Member,
State Child Rights Commission undertook two review meetings of district
officials at Jhunjhunu on 12th February and Sikar on 19th February. Officials
from SJE , Medical , Police , District Administration , CWC , WCD , Child
Directorate & NGO members were called upon and asked to submit their
reports. Focus was on aligning child rights of special needs children with
various Govt policies and programs.
Hearing Aid Distribution Camp (17th February)
Another Gift of Hearing Mission By Starkey Hearing Foundation at Jaipur!
Bigger & Better!!
More than 2000 hearing impaired children across Rajasthan received good
quality hearing aids along with tailor made ear molds & one year supplies
of battery. 120 children from our three schools got these aids. Further 200
children from different NGOs in various places were facilitated by us to get
the aids. We also connected Starkey with the additional chief secretary ,
department of women & child development , Govt of Rajasthan Ms Gurjot
Kaur as well as Principal Secretary ,Medical & Principal Secretary,
Education so that convergence can be attained and enhanced synergy may
benefit maximum number of children in the state through public-private
partnership enabling them hear crystal clear sound thereby fulfilling their
lives. Since last five years, we have been instrumental in providing BTE
hearing aids for close to 800 children with hearing & speech impairment
here in Rajasthan.
Workshop at Jaipur (25th February)
A state level workshop organized by Directorate (Special Abled) Govt of
Rajasthan was attended by us in which we shared our experiences and
gave many valuable suggestions to Govt authorities including state minister
& secretary for effective implementation of welfare schemes for children
with special needs. More than 300 delegates participated.
Visit by NIMH official (4th March)
National Institute for Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad (Apex body in
the country) selected our five intellectually children from SC/ST category for
Govt scheme of free laptop distribution. These will come with pre-loaded
specialized software aimed at better & interactive learnings to the children.
In this connection NIMH official visited AKJ and met children and parents
who would be provided hands on training to use the laptops at homes.
Prime Minister Clean India Drive (9th March)
AKJ also lend our helping hands to local service issues such as sanitation,
environment, linking of social security schemes, providing services to
medical fraternity in various medical/diagnostic camps and Pulse-Polio
campaigns. In this regard, we offered our support to district administration
in ‘Clean India Campaign’ initiated by Hon. PM.
National Trust Capacity Building Workshop (31st March 2015)
One day workshop by National Trust SNAC at Jaipur was attended by AKJ.
Technical knowledge session was highly interactive one. Besides,
bottleneck issues in execution of central schemes in Rajasthan were
discussed.
Festivals ,Occasions & Special Days Celebrations:
AKJ celebrates / observes all major festivals, functions, occasions and
special days in the year wherein we also invite community members to
motivate them. Following are some of the noteworthy days in the reported
period that were celebrated with customary enthusiasm and vigor:
 8th April – Shri Ram Navami celebration
 28thJuly – Eid-ul- fitar celebrations with sweets & new cloths distribution
 9th August – Raksha Bandhan celebrations with tying friendship band
 15th August – Independence Day function in the presence of community
and prominent persons
 16thAugust– Shri Krishan Janamashtami celebration , Makhan Matki Act
 25th September – Navratra Stapthana and Dandia Ras
 2nd October – Vijayadashmi with burning of Ravan effigy
 6th October – Eid- ul -Joha celebration
 17th October – Before breaking for Deepawali vacations, children did
Laxmi Puja, lit Diyas and candles and in the evening fired noiseless
crackers. Schools were illuminated; lunch was served followed by
sweets distribution
 24th December – Christmas celebration with decoration of Christmas
tree followed by Santa Claus distributing gifts to children
 1st January – New Year Celebrations with dance ,music & lot of fun
 13th January – Makar Sakranti with kites & blankets distribution
 26th January – Republic Day Function with children performing patriotic
dance sequences
 17th February – Maha Shivratri
 5th March – Holi - Festival of Water & Colours
 28th March – Shri Ram Navami celebration
Capacity Building / Networking / Policy Intervention at Rajasthan
State Commission for Protection of Child Rights , Jaipur
At RSCPCR, Sudeep Goyal , Secretary , Asha Ka Jharna was a member of
three cells –
Disability
Right to Education and
Nutrition & Health
His objective and goal is to attain full life cycle needs, holistic development
and access to enabling and empowering environment for all the children by
actively monitoring various policies and programmes ; reviewing complaints
& rights violation cases ; drafting new policies and advocating child rights in
society.
Following Initiatives of RSCPCR (Disability Cell) were taken :
 Meeting with specialists on Early Intervention to prevent/reduce
disability
 Workshop on Social Inclusion of specially- able in RTE
 State Wide Consultation on Children with Disability
 Redressed the complaints received
 Took Cognizance of media reports on Rights Violation
 Field Visits of Institutions working for special children to assess on
ground situation
 Review meeting of Working Group on Disability
 Framed Guidelines on prevention of Child Abuse with special focus
on special children
 Monitored schemes and policies by regularly asking for status reports
from concerned departments
 Meeting on Inclusive Education for Children with Multiple Disabilities
 Seminar with Parents on Exercising Rights & Entitlements of
Intellectually Challenged Children