CHENNAI: Through songs, humorous narratives and theatrical flair, the members of the Kathai Kalatta team welcomed the audience at Sankalp – The Learning Centre and Special Needs School to Milan, the autism awareness day celebrations.
Even though the storytellers — Pretigaya Haran, Ambujavalli Nagarajan, Debjani and Vikram Sridhar — selected different styles to present their stories, the common link was the message — the need for acceptance and inclusion.
“This was our first autism awareness event. We were a little worried. But the crowd of school and college kids motivated us to perform and even improvise our stories,” agreed the storytellers in unison.
This was the first time Sankalp held a storytelling session with kids from local government schools, private schools, and universities, even though programmes are held during Autism Awareness Month, in April, every year. “This school is situated in a semi-rural area. Since we have moved away from the city, there is a greater need of creating awareness.
To begin with, children should have awareness and stories are the best method to get to them. We invited kids from Sri Chaitanya Techno School, Kolapancherri, Chennai Public School, Thirumuzhisai and Anna Nagar. The stories were also curated in such a way that every kid understands the core message of the need to be empathetic. We had different sessions with the Kathai Kalatta team. Through presentations, we put forward the areas we wanted to cover and they performed everything well,” said Sulata Ajith, founder and director, Sankalp.
Sankalp, started in 1999, is involved in remedial instruction to children with disabilities like Dyslexia (learning disability) and Autism Spectrum Disorder. The staff affirmed that it is currently the best special school in the country according to the ranking of Education World. Dr Mullasari Ajith, cardiologist and managing trustee of Sankalp, shared, “Autism Spectrum Disorder is one of the increasing problems in our country. We currently have two schools with 60 teachers, 10 other staff and 15 helpers assisting almost 250 students in total. Our aim is to include children with disabilities and focus on improving their communication, socialisation and behavioural skills.”
Addressing the need to give special attention and training to children with disabilities, Kurian Manavalan, trustee of Sankalp, shared, “The student-teacher ratio in special schools is high, here it is 2:1. This makes it expensive to run the school. We need to become a safe environment for the kids. We have been lucky because of our sponsors. Sankalp is also planning to be launched in other cities like Kochi.”
The organisation aims to partner with the team of storytellers to conduct story sessions throughout the month. The team is also inviting admissions to their teacher training session. Sulata explained, “Sankalp is starting a Diploma in Special Education programme approved by the Rehabilitation Council of India, with an aim of building a cadre of highly-trained and specialised educators. The course commences in July 2023. Admission for this course is open.”
For details, call 9791130913, 9150048494, or visit: www.sankalpnet.org