Annual Reports

Dwar Jingkyrmen completed twenty six years of service on the 1st of August 2012. As each year passes by we look back with a sense of fulfillment and realization of our aspirations and dreams and yet there seems to be miles to go when we can say 'we have done our part'. The number of persons we have offered services to are well over a thousand but it is just a drop in the ocean, we need to reach out to many more.

Our Inclusive Section of the School where the able and the disable study together, laugh together and play together is growing inspite of the apprehension of many a parent to let their children be with the children of the lesser Gods.

Services Offered

1. Centre for Special Education and Inclusive Education
2. Pre-vocational Training Centre
3. Out Student Division
4. Unit for Autistic Spectrum Disorder
5. Parent Involvement Programme
6. Respite Care Services
7. Referral Services
8. Awareness Programme
9. Human Resource Development

1. Centre for Special Education has the following:
2. Special Learning Unit for the Severe students.
3. Class 1 and 2 (Junior School)-below Eight years of age.
4. Class 3 & 4 (Middle School) Eight to Twelve years
5. Class 5 & 6 (Senior School 7 Vocational Unit) Twelve Plus years

The areas of work are:

1. Early Learning Skills
2. Communication
3. Self-care
4. Functional Academics
5. Physical Ability Training.
6. Co-curricular Activities.
7. Academics - National Institute of Open Schooling, Syllabus

The Teaching Methods are based on a child's ability. Term Goals are made depending on the progress. Weekly lesson plans are reviewed every Monday to check on the implementation and also to measure the progress.

The Pre Vocational Training Centre gives an input in home skills, self care and craft thereby to enable the young adult to be useful member in the family. The students in the Sewing and Screen Printing Units produce work of a high quality where the products are sold and a part of the sale proceeds go to the students as stipend which amounted to 36,803 rupees in the year. We were fortunate to have received 40,000 rupees from the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of the East Khasi Hills District for the purchase of Raw Materials for the Vocational Training Unit. A few of the Adult students of this Unit also received monetary benefits under the Chief Minister's Scheme for the Disabled.

Some products of this Unit were also exhibited and sold at a fair in Kolkata by the Meghalaya Handloom & Handicrafts Development Cooperation Limited.

The students in the Screen Printing Unit are near professionals in their vocation.

Three other young adults have been employed by the School in various capacities.
The new students at the initial stage are kept under the Special Educator for an assessment in the presence of the parents thereafter every student is given an one to one teaching session of two hours for at least twelve sessions or more with toilet training and behaviour management along with classroom adjustment plans. Counseling of parents is carried on simultaneously mainly for the convenience of home care. Children with difficulty in mobility or transport are taken care of by our teachers with a fortnightly home visit.

The Parents Involvement Programmes are interaction between the Parents and the Teachers in groups as well as individual depending on the child. In order to enhance the abilities of a student it is important to have a candid rapport with the parents and in some areas cases parents are encouraged to work with the children in the classrooms.

The Respite Care Services we offered to parents in times of need to be out of town for any social activity or emergency where qualified staff take care of the child does not seem to do well as the community prefers to depend on family. This service is also utilized in giving the students a night out from home in our 'Fun & Learn' programme-which parents are happy to avail of.

Referral Services are also offered to parents for guidance of services which may not be available locally.

Awareness Programmes, this year, were funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation of the U.K. through the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, Kolkata where services were rendered to the disabled in Lawsohtun and Mylliem.

In the Human Resource Development the B. Ed in Special Education, a Course started in 2007 under the North Eastern Hill University and the Rehabilitation Council of India the number of aspiring Special Educators has gone up to its maximum which is twenty per Batch.

This has helped the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (S.S.A.) under the Department of Education, Government of Meghalaya in appointing Special Educators in teaching Children with Special Needs in the rural areas. The job opportunities in this area is vast as the Ministry of HRD, Government of India's estimated requirement of Special Educators in the country today is forty lakhs.

The Nurses of the city hospitals and the Trainee Nurses of the various Nursing Colleges do come for short term courses. Short courses are also conducted for the students of Child Development Education of the colleges. University students from NEHU and outside collect data for their Ph. D work. The students of the I.I.M., Shillong paid quite a few visits.

Amongst the School Activities the participations of the students in the regular Painting Competition organized by Institutions and Colleges and the Government in Observation of Environment, Wild Life, etc were note worthy.

The Annual Sports were held with much fun and games. Special Olympics Bharat, Meghalaya Chapter had also organized a Day in memory of Eunice Kennedy Shriver the founder of the Special Olympics Movement.

Caroline Krer, a volunteer from Holland spent a fortnight in teaching group outdoor games to the students.

The Silver Jubilee Celebrations started in August 2011 continued with a Mural Painting Competition where fourteen schools participated. There was also a Flower Arrangement Competition which had over a hundred entries. A Carrom Competition was held followed by a Singing Competition. The Celebrations culminated with the release of our Silver Jubilee Souvenir. These celebrations would have not been possible without the cooperation of the parents, their enthusiasm was beyond words.

The In Service Training Programme was confined to Identification, Early Intervention, Disability Management, Classroom Management, Teaching Modules, Epilepsy, Mental Retardation and Cerebral Palsy.

A three day Workshop was held on "Autistic Spectrum Disorder" conducted Mrs. Indrani Basu and Dr Mitu Dey of the Autism Society of West Bengal, Kolkata. This Workshop was accredited by the Rehabilitation Council of India as a CRE Course.

A three day Workshop was organized on 'Disability Management in Rural Areas' where the Resource Persons were from the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, Kolkata and this Workshop was also accredited by the Rehabilitation Council of India as a C.R.E. Course.

The Teachers' Day, the Children's Day and the World Disability Day were observed with full participation of the students.

Fund Raising, which is a must for the survival of the school with the Grant-in-Aid, from the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India, depleting year by year was reasonably fair. The Sale of Greeting Cards and Crafts made by the Vocational Training Unit along with other Sales of vegetables, old articles, paper bags, and the Raffle brought in 2,46,946 rupees.

Donations from our well wishers and friends amounted 4, 31,392 rupees. This money is kept aside towards further Construction of the School Building.

The amount available for the Building Construction at the beginning of the Financial Year 11, 13,023 rupees had to be transferred to the General Account during the year for the day to day running of the School as the School had received only 3, 58,425 rupees as the First Installment of the Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India, towards the Recurring Expenditure for 2012-2013. This was only 18% of the Expenditure and the entitlement as per the Deen Dayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme is 90%/.

The expansion of the School Building needs at least 15, 00,000 rupees for a single phase which will accommodate another fifty students. The demand for Admission is very high but these children had to be denied admission due to non availability of additional classrooms. Twenty four irregular students were asked to join the O.S.D. Programme and replaced by new students during the year.

The School has come to this stage with immense financial struggle in the last twenty six years and it may be difficult for the Governing Body to carry on begging for money.