Inside a small school building in Kashmir’s Bijbehara, a man in a wheelchair moves between tables, smiling at the children around him. Some are visually impaired, some have hearing or intellectual disabilities, and others are on the autism spectrum. This is the Zaiba Aapa Institute of Inclusive Education, South Kashmir’s first school for specially-abled children, and the man is its founder, Javed Ahmad Tak. “This is not just a school,” Tak says. “It is a place where children learn to believe in themselves.”
Javed’s own life changed after a gunfire incident damaged his spinal cord and left him bedridden for years. A doctor once told him he could only do “table jobs.” The remark hurt, but it also gave him direction. “If that is all I can do, then I will do it,” he decided. Using `75,000 he received as relief compensation, Javed started teaching six children with disabilities in a rented room. “I wanted to give children dignity, something that I was denied,” he says.
The school soon became a safe space for children who had struggled to find acceptance elsewhere. “Many were told they were unfit for education,” Javed recalls. One of his students, Zakiya, a visually impaired girl who was once denied admission to a government school, later went on to study at Jawaharlal Nehru University. She had told him, “It’s not my disability, sir, it’s the teachers’ inability to see.”
By 2008, the school had more than 30 students, and support from an NGO helped it expand. Today, the institute educates over 280 children with disabilities. Alongside academics, students participate in activities such as making paper bags and selling Kashmiri dried apples. “It teaches them independence and helps them build confidence and real-life skills,” Javed says.
When Javed enters a classroom, children rush towards him, eager to greet their teacher. Physiotherapists, special educators, and speech therapists work alongside him, ensuring every child receives individual attention. But challenges remain. “Society looks at the word ‘special’ and forgets the person,” Javed says. “We must educate parents and the community as much as we educate the children.”
In 2020, Javed was awarded the Padma Shri for his contribution to social work. Sitting in what he calls his “King’s Chair,” surrounded by children’s laughter, he reflects on the journey that began with six students in a rented room. “Every challenge has a purpose,” he says. “My disability was not a punishment. It was a blessing in disguise. It gave me a reason to live for others.”