Especially special
A visit to Ida Rieu, a school for special children, reveals a world of everyday miracles.
While most children play pittu and chupan chupai during school recess, these children prefer to sit on the lawn with their close friends and munch on their lunch. While most children stand outside the canteen in a queue, yelling and vociferously demanding the person in front of them to “hurry up”, these children wait patiently. Some use sign language to communicate with the person on the other side of the counter or attempt to express themselves with their limited speaking skills to purchase a meal of either samosas or crispy, deep-fried rolls for their half an hour break. While most children are special mainly in the eyes of their loved ones, these children are termed ‘special’ the world over.
Ida Rieu in Karachi has been catering to the special education needs for these children since 1922 and reveal the story behind their success in this field along with the difficulties they face.
Starting from the basics
A student of KG 1, Madiha, who suffers from impaired hearing, closely follows her teacher’s instructions and enthusiastically makes the appropriate symbols for ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘c’. During a lesson in colours which follows suit she replies to her teacher’s question with regards to the colour of her bag. “Red,” she says loudly, stammering on the ‘e’ but showing progress made during her speech therapy classes. The interactive session continues with the girls surprisingly louder than the boys and ends on a highly positive note with appreciation voiced by the little girl.
“I li-ike my te-e-ccher”, she utters in slow progression with her lips curving to form a smile as she glances at her teacher.
Music for the soul
Every Wednesday and Thursday, students enjoy a lesson in music under the sun. The music instructor at Ida Rieu explains how he teaches music to a group of students, half of whom cannot see him or the instruments before them and half of whom cannot hear his voice: “We follow a set format here. The children follow my instructions as I do counting on my fingers, each number representing a rhythm. We mastered the tune of the national anthem that way. The visually impaired children face greater difficulties as they cannot see my numeric instructions — however, they are gifted with strong listening skills. You give them a clear set of instructions once and they remember them.”
Touched by colour
Blending colours on a canvas during art class are students of grade nine and ten and displayed in the background are the creations of previous students. Ranging from glass paintings to oil paintings, the students bring forth their creative side when left alone with a paintbrush in hand. Also displayed in the art room are pictures of famous artists who have visited the school, gifted art supplies to students and appreciated their work.
Hall of fame
Pinned up on the soft boards in the hallway of the school are the pictures of ex-students who have earned the title of ‘stars’. These special achievers have excelled in the field of education by holding top ranking positions in their secondary school and college exams and then going on to either teach at school or realising their potential in other fields. They are the pride of the school and inspire other students to follow in their footsteps.
Getting knot-ty
Children gather around their teacher who is giving them a lesson in block printing. Home economics is another subject which is being taught at the school. Children often bring their own suits and paint them with bright colours, ready to be worn at some festive occasion.
Toddling around
Visually impaired children recite nursery rhymes and the room echoes with the sounds of laughter and clapping. The children, anxious to leave the room at the sound of the bell, which will announce the end of another productive school day, are obeying the teacher’s last instruction. Some children make their way to the toys and learning tools lined up on the shelves along the wall, bumping into tables and chairs as they feel their way towards the shelves.
“Some of these students have partial vision due to damaged eye nerves and wear glasses but their vision is still not very strong. You need to call out their name several times for them to follow the sounds and make their way up to you,” says their facilitator.
Bring on the braille
The new modern and well equipped complex of Ida Rieu which facilitates the visually challenged children is complete with a state of the art Braille printing machine which converts normal textbooks into Braille books.
An ex-student and an expert at playing the tabla recites a verse from the Quran and its translation from one of the Braille books printed at the school.
Fruity fun
A valuable lesson on fruits is being conducted by Ms Shakila Fatima who has been teaching at the school for the last 8 years. She slides her hand across her face which indicates, “Where are your copies?” When the children do not respond, it doesn’t take long for her to solve the mystery: most children did not have their hearing aids on after returning from recess. Having solved that problem, she proceeds with her lesson, making sure to repeat each word several times so as to allow the children to keep up with her pace. “By attending numerous training sessions I have been able to better communicate with my students ... I understand their needs better now,” she states as she turns towards the white board to draw an apple.
Spirit of dedication
Ms Shakila Sadiq has been teaching the students of grade two at the school for the past 25 years and speaks about her fruitful experience: “I joined the school after completing my Matric and i’ve been here since. I never felt the need to leave this place and work someplace else...I completed my BA from here and attended various training sessions. It’s the kids themselves who teach us more than anyone else ... I learnt by reading their facial expressions which speak a million words. It’s been great teaching these children.”
The last word
“These children are just like all other children...they are not mentally retarded...that is a general misconception which needs to be corrected. If the right teaching methods are implemented they can compete with ‘normal’ children in all fields, be it sports, academics, arts or even singing,” says Ms Qudsia Khan, the principal of Ida Rieu. “This long journey has been highlighted by many successes and the setbacks that come”, she expresses as she points towards the three rows of trophies lined in the showcase adjacent to her desk.
As a woman who made it her mission in life to learn about the challenges faced by these children, she had a lot to contribute on the subject by way of her experience and her struggle to improve the teaching methods and techniques for these children. “Paucity of funds is the biggest hurdle we face ... the government is not fulfilling its responsibility so NGOs step in to fill in the gap and other individuals who make generous donations from time to time,” she says. “We lack the modern techniques and technology needed to teach these children, along with properly trained staff. Although we are making the effort, we need a proper system in place to improve the quality of education and reach out to more and more special children.”
“People over here lack awareness with regards to special education”, she admits sadly. “Parents usually don’t accept their special children; they think they cannot study like other kids so they start neglecting them. I personally think only 5% of parents give their children the kind of attention they need," she concludes.
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 6th, 2012.
Ida Rieu in Karachi has been catering to the special education needs for these children since 1922 and reveal the story behind their success in this field along with the difficulties they face.
Starting from the basics
A student of KG 1, Madiha, who suffers from impaired hearing, closely follows her teacher’s instructions and enthusiastically makes the appropriate symbols for ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘c’. During a lesson in colours which follows suit she replies to her teacher’s question with regards to the colour of her bag. “Red,” she says loudly, stammering on the ‘e’ but showing progress made during her speech therapy classes. The interactive session continues with the girls surprisingly louder than the boys and ends on a highly positive note with appreciation voiced by the little girl.
“I li-ike my te-e-ccher”, she utters in slow progression with her lips curving to form a smile as she glances at her teacher.
Music for the soul
Every Wednesday and Thursday, students enjoy a lesson in music under the sun. The music instructor at Ida Rieu explains how he teaches music to a group of students, half of whom cannot see him or the instruments before them and half of whom cannot hear his voice: “We follow a set format here. The children follow my instructions as I do counting on my fingers, each number representing a rhythm. We mastered the tune of the national anthem that way. The visually impaired children face greater difficulties as they cannot see my numeric instructions — however, they are gifted with strong listening skills. You give them a clear set of instructions once and they remember them.”
Touched by colour
Blending colours on a canvas during art class are students of grade nine and ten and displayed in the background are the creations of previous students. Ranging from glass paintings to oil paintings, the students bring forth their creative side when left alone with a paintbrush in hand. Also displayed in the art room are pictures of famous artists who have visited the school, gifted art supplies to students and appreciated their work.
Hall of fame
Pinned up on the soft boards in the hallway of the school are the pictures of ex-students who have earned the title of ‘stars’. These special achievers have excelled in the field of education by holding top ranking positions in their secondary school and college exams and then going on to either teach at school or realising their potential in other fields. They are the pride of the school and inspire other students to follow in their footsteps.
Getting knot-ty
Children gather around their teacher who is giving them a lesson in block printing. Home economics is another subject which is being taught at the school. Children often bring their own suits and paint them with bright colours, ready to be worn at some festive occasion.
Toddling around
Visually impaired children recite nursery rhymes and the room echoes with the sounds of laughter and clapping. The children, anxious to leave the room at the sound of the bell, which will announce the end of another productive school day, are obeying the teacher’s last instruction. Some children make their way to the toys and learning tools lined up on the shelves along the wall, bumping into tables and chairs as they feel their way towards the shelves.
“Some of these students have partial vision due to damaged eye nerves and wear glasses but their vision is still not very strong. You need to call out their name several times for them to follow the sounds and make their way up to you,” says their facilitator.
Simple yet effective teaching techniques
For children who are visually challenged, Braille, the standard form of reading and writing by means of raised dots on paper, is used. It generally consists of cells of six raised dots conventionally numbered and the presence or absence of dots gives the coding for the symbol. The Braille typewriter, typically consisting of six keys, enables children to write and teachers to teach with greater ease and speed.
Children in the nursery section, who suffer from partial visual impairment, are catered to by playing videos and enlarging the images on the screen so as to allow children to recognise the objects displayed before them. To further assist them in learning, bold letters are written on a white sheet of paper with a thick black marker and placed under a bright light so as to enable them to read.
This Braille slate is used during math class for calculations. Tiny magnets are placed in the indented Braille cells to represent numbers.
Another simple technique employed at the school involves printing larger versions of textbooks to aid reading.
Since all students cannot be provided with their own Braille typewriters, which are fairly expensive, they are given a Braille slate. This is a two-part hinged device between which a sheet of Braille paper is placed and children use a stylus, consisting of a small handle made of plastic with a sharp metal point, to make tiny dots on the sheet of paper.
As the children advance to higher grades, their reading packages begin to include long passages. To facilitate their reading needs, a cctv camera, attached to a screen, is placed over the textbook to capture clippings of the text which appear on the screen and are then enlarged. This makes reading a relatively painless experience for children with partial visual impairment.
Bring on the braille
The new modern and well equipped complex of Ida Rieu which facilitates the visually challenged children is complete with a state of the art Braille printing machine which converts normal textbooks into Braille books.
An ex-student and an expert at playing the tabla recites a verse from the Quran and its translation from one of the Braille books printed at the school.
Fruity fun
A valuable lesson on fruits is being conducted by Ms Shakila Fatima who has been teaching at the school for the last 8 years. She slides her hand across her face which indicates, “Where are your copies?” When the children do not respond, it doesn’t take long for her to solve the mystery: most children did not have their hearing aids on after returning from recess. Having solved that problem, she proceeds with her lesson, making sure to repeat each word several times so as to allow the children to keep up with her pace. “By attending numerous training sessions I have been able to better communicate with my students ... I understand their needs better now,” she states as she turns towards the white board to draw an apple.
Spirit of dedication
Ms Shakila Sadiq has been teaching the students of grade two at the school for the past 25 years and speaks about her fruitful experience: “I joined the school after completing my Matric and i’ve been here since. I never felt the need to leave this place and work someplace else...I completed my BA from here and attended various training sessions. It’s the kids themselves who teach us more than anyone else ... I learnt by reading their facial expressions which speak a million words. It’s been great teaching these children.”
The last word
“These children are just like all other children...they are not mentally retarded...that is a general misconception which needs to be corrected. If the right teaching methods are implemented they can compete with ‘normal’ children in all fields, be it sports, academics, arts or even singing,” says Ms Qudsia Khan, the principal of Ida Rieu. “This long journey has been highlighted by many successes and the setbacks that come”, she expresses as she points towards the three rows of trophies lined in the showcase adjacent to her desk.
As a woman who made it her mission in life to learn about the challenges faced by these children, she had a lot to contribute on the subject by way of her experience and her struggle to improve the teaching methods and techniques for these children. “Paucity of funds is the biggest hurdle we face ... the government is not fulfilling its responsibility so NGOs step in to fill in the gap and other individuals who make generous donations from time to time,” she says. “We lack the modern techniques and technology needed to teach these children, along with properly trained staff. Although we are making the effort, we need a proper system in place to improve the quality of education and reach out to more and more special children.”
“People over here lack awareness with regards to special education”, she admits sadly. “Parents usually don’t accept their special children; they think they cannot study like other kids so they start neglecting them. I personally think only 5% of parents give their children the kind of attention they need," she concludes.
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 6th, 2012.