MADIKERI: They salute and then chorus a good morning. Anyone entering Swastha Centre for Special Education and Rehabilitation Institution at Suntikoppa is welcomed with a warm smile. As you walk further, you will find students engrossed in various creative jobs. While a team stitches eco-friendly bags, another makes paper bags and yet another is involved in screen printing.
“These students with special needs have 100% concentration. Their skill is taken as it is,” says Aarathi Sommaiah, Dean of Swastha. She adds, “We are not just involved in training them; we want to empower them and place them in different jobs. We identify their skills and see where they can be used in the current market and help them gain economic stability.”
Pottery, bee keeping, orchid farming, art workshop, paper bag making, sewing…the talent of students is tapped and their skills honed.
“I feel happy when I see buds bloom into flowers. I like to rear honeybees too. I have grown ‘seethe’ flower (Orchid Rhynchostylic Retusa) at home,” says Ajith (28), who is diagnosed with autism. He is currently tending to a variety of orchid plants along with his friend Kiran – diagnosed with speech disability – at the greenhouse at the Swastha Centre. Trained by a professor of Ponnampet Forestry College, these two students have learnt the art of growing orchids and will soon be placed in an estate and a nursery to earn a sustainable living.
Swastha was established in 2003 by the Coorg Foundation, a Trust set up by Tata Coffee Limited. It began with 20 students now hosts 128 and has successfully got many differently abled students jobs in the mainstream.
However, finding the right place for employment for them is a challenge in itself, especially in rural areas. Nevertheless, Swastha is fighting this challenge by organizing Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programmes and tapping the benefits of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). “NREGA is a beautiful concept implemented by the government. However, it has been unable to work its magic due to the non-awareness of its schemes in rural areas. We are using the NREGA model and schemes so that these students can avail the benefits,” explains Murgesh, one of the staffers at Swastha.
“We identified a person with disability through CBR programmes and helped him establish a petty shop at Kambibane village (where there were no shops). Once he started the business, other people started petty shops in the same area. This person felt threatened to compete with them. However, Swastha showed him how he could excel by introducing new products in his shop. He still runs the shop successfully,” recalls Aarathi, the Dean.
They are trained to be self-reliant and be confident. “If they need food, we do not give them food directly. We teach them how to fish,” says Murgesh.
Meanwhile, the therapies that are charged on hourly basis in cities are given for free here and are converted into vocational options. “Art is a form of therapy for these students. At first, training is given to them in various art forms including decoupage, painting and other crafts. Training has to be repetitive. However, once they learn, they stay focused. Their artworks are sold or exhibited,” explains Gautham, art teacher.
They do paintings of nature, decoupage works on pen stands, coasters and trays, and each artwork has the name of the artist on them. “Their art has to be bought for what it is worth and not out of pity,” says Gautham.
Their works have been exhibited across the nation and they have taken part in exhibitions like Soul Santhe. “The students are taken here not just to exhibit their works but also to be introduced to the competitive world,” says Aarathi.
Aarathi stresses the need for inclusive education for them and dreams that one of her students establishes a start-up where other differently abled students could be employed.
Key achievements of Swastha
Upcoming projects