LUCKNOW: The coronavirus pandemic posed a challenging situation for teachers across the country as they had to shift to online teaching. However, for the ones who have been helping out specially-abled children, it has been a never ending journey.
On the occasion of Teachers’ Day, TOI spoke to educationists who have gone the extra mile for students with special needs, especially during the pandemic.
Rita Srivastava, an educationist who looks after hearing-impaired children at Bachpan Day Care Centre for disabled kids, alters her daily routine plan according to her students.
Sometimes she even works longer than her usual work hours, which she finds meaningful since at the end of the day she gets to see smile on the faces of her students.
“Ever since I was a kid I wanted to help specially-abled children in some way or the other. I had seen my family members helping and being affectionate towards such kids. As we are now teaching online, it has been extremely challenging for teachers, students and their parents,” she said.
“Some of the parents do not have a mobile phone or computer for online classes, we have to take out extra time from our schedules to make students sit and learn,” said Rita, who teaches students in the age group of two-and-a-half years to seven years.
“For us, they are like any other student. Our job is to help them in their growing years. If we have to work extra hours or at odd times, we do so happily. We try to do fun activities as well. Some children respond, others don’t. We stay connected with them round-the-clock,” added Rita, who has been working as a special educator for more than 13 years.
Rajendra Kumar (31), who teaches visually-impaired students at the centre, says it is important to be friendly to to such children as it helps in interaction and teaching.
“We have to make teaching fun and easy for which extra efforts are needed. Not only children, we have to teach their parents too. If they have difficulty, we ask them to visit the centre. We help them in understanding the needs of their children, how they can convey their message through Braille and teach them written language so that they can help their child at home. I personally believe that every teacher should be able to handle special kids. They are like any other normal schoolgoing student and are very talented. This is the only way we can make education inclusive,” said Kumar, adding that his students also went on to join regular schools.
