Educate a poor hearing impaired child by Ashray Akruti

Ashray Akruti continues its mission of providing special education to children with hearing loss and making an enormous difference in their lives. The education is provided to 650 children at 6 locations in Hyderabad and one location in Kadapa Andhra Pradesh. The corona virus pandemic had resulted in the closure of schools for the academic year 2020- 2021.

The special educators and speech therapist took online classes for the children of Class 1st to Class 10th. Parents were given counselling and were also motivated to participate in class along with the children. The parents took additional responsibility to make their presence in the online class with their children. Parents made a note as to what was taught in class and shared the home work and assignment done by the children with the respective teacher.

The only challenge the students faced was unavailability of tablets, desktops and laptops. Most of the children come from vulnerable families. They could not afford to buy a tablet or a desktop for their child. Children used to either borrow phone from their neighbours or use parents phone to attend classes. Ashray Akruti with the support of individual donors and corporates could provide tablets to few students.

From January 2021 Ashray Akruti has started offline class to the students of Class VI to X.

Independence Day Celebration Due to this pandemic situation of Covid 19 and closure of school, Organization couldn’t celebrate the Independence Day in school but one of the company (Wipro) gave the opportunity to Ashray Akruti students to participate in the celebrations virtually. On this occasion students have participated in drawing competition. Special Olympiad Students of Ashray Akruti participated in Special Olympics conducted by one of the MNC (Real page). 40 students took part in different activities like drawing, art & craft, dancing and skipping and showcased their talent. Children’s day celebrations Due to this pandemic situation of Covid 19 and closure of school, Organization couldn’t celebrate the Children’s day in school but one of the company gave the opportunity to Ashray Akruti students to participate in the celebrations virtually. On this occasion students participated in fancy dress and dance programme.

Success story:

Pavan Reddy

Pavan Reddy hails from a poor family in Hyderabad. His father works as an agricultural labourer in their village and his mother is a housewife. He stays with his mother in Hyderabad. His parents were in a state of shock when they realized that he was born with hearing impairment.

They were clueless as how to support or take care of their child. They visited several doctors in the hope of finding a cure for their child but nothing worked. Their economic condition was not good and hence could not afford assistive devices and rehabilitation cost. They wished to provide him good education. They learnt about Ashray Akruti and services of the organization through references and decided to enroll him at Ashray Akruti. They were very happy to see the teaching methodology and techniques to deal with a hearing impaired child. He joined Ashray Akruti School in June 2016 in Fast Track Class.

He was promoted from Class III to Class V. He is presently studying in Class VII at Ashray Akruti. Initially when he joined the school he was not able to follow the teacher’s instructions in class but now he can understand and respond appropriately.

He has shown good improvement in studies. He is able to answer the questions asked by the teachers in the classroom. He can read in sentences, likes to draw and paint. His parents are very happy with his progress at Ashray Akruti.

Educating the bright minds

Project Objectives: • To provide hearing impaired children academic training from Nursery through High School. • To provide assistive hearing devices for children with hearing loss • To help hearing impaired children use their residual hearing and develop expressive speech • To provide counseling and guidance to students and parents

Ashray Akruti has been providing quality education for the children with Hearing Impairment since 1996. Medium of instruction is English. The syllabus and curriculum is set according to the curriculum of Telangana state board. The syllabus is adapted to suit the requirements of the students. The teacher and student ratio is 1:8. The process of teaching involves individually planned systematically monitored teaching methods, adaptive methods, accessible settings and other interventions designed to help students to achieve higher level of self-sufficiency and success in the school.

From the month of January 2020 to March 2020 - 25 hearing impaired children received support from Give India for Education.

Program Update

The organization has been following several unique techniques in imparting special education to the hearing impaired children, the main feature being that the children are encouraged to speak. The focus is to enhance the residual hearing power of the children thus encouraging the children to speak rather than rely on sign language for communication. The institution encourages participation of the mothers in effective development of their children. All the staff members are well equipped to train hearing impaired children. Children are given special training in auditory and verbal skills and also academic training as per Andhra Pradesh State Syllabus. The institution steadfastly maintains a low teacher-student ratio, which enables every child to get the individual attention.

A number of activities were carried out in the last quarter - Ashray Akruti observes World Hearing Day 2019 Ashray Akruti observed World Hearing Day on 3rd March at Tourism Plaza, Begumpet, Hyderabad. Lt. Gen. S.M. Mehta (Retd.) AVSM, SM, VSM, Chief Executive Officer, The Hans Foundation was the Chief Guest on the occasion along with several other guests attended the event. The audience was charmed by the lively performances of the children who have undergone Cochlear Implant Surgery. The children also recited rhymes much to the delight of the audience. The parents shared their experiences of how their lives have been transformed after the Cochlear Implant surgery.

Ashray Akruti students express themselves through Art As a part of celebrations of the ‘World Hearing Day’, Ashray Akruti organized ‘Voiced Colors – Edition IV Art exhibition’ at Shrishti Art gallery, Road number 15, Jubilee Hills on 1st March. An array of more than 90 paintings done by 29 students of Ashray Akruti were on display. The beautiful strokes on the canvas with colors spoke immensely of the enormous artistic talent and potential of these students. A huge thanks to our Art Teachers Mr. Ramakrishna ,Ms. Tanuja, and Mr. Ajay who mentored and brought out the best out of the students.

We are delighted to share - It is a very proud moment for Ashray Akruti. Two students from the Multimedia and Computer Animation Training Centre, Mr. J. Tushar and Mr. K. Chandeesh have been hired by MAX and Flipkart respectively. Tushar and Chandeesh hail from very modest families and successfully completed the four month course in Multimedia and Computer Animation at Ashray Akruti.

Congratulations! We wish them all the best for new assignment and a great future ahead.

Ashray Akruti celebrates Republic Day 70th Republic day celebrated by Ashray Akruti at its Srinagar Colony premises. Students from all the centres of Ashray Akruti centers participated in the programme with Mrs. Aruna Bahuguna, Rtd IPS officer as the chief guest. Students put up a dance performance, a skit and a fancy dress show, leaving the audience thrilled with their performance. Speaking on the occasion Ms. Aruna Bahuguna appreciated the performance of the students, congratulated the teachers for nurturing their talents, and wished the students a bright future.

Women’s Day celebrations at Wipro Ashray Akruti students participated in the Women’s day celebrations at Wipro campus in Hyderabad. They charmed the employees with their dance. They also performed National Anthem in sign language. The different meanings of the words were brought to life through signs , and the zeal and arrogance on their faces made it a delightful experience for one and all.

Thank you Sponsors for bringing sound into their silent world.

Voter Awareness Walk for persons with Disability 30 students of the Ashray Akruti Multimedia and Animation centre participated in the voter awareness walk for persons with disability organized by the Chief Electoral Officer of Hyderabad at People Plaza, Necklace Road. Approximately one thousands persons with disabilities, and PwD activists participated in this walk. This was an event to create awareness on the importance of voting among Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).

Volunteering - Volunteering from various organization including FedEx, PwC, DRS Internations School, JP Morgan, CGI Information Systems and Management etc. visited and volunteered with us at different occasions. The volunteers interacted with the children, and spent time painting on the pebbles and having fun along with them. The team also played a cricket match and kabbadi with the boys on the school ground. They also distributed play material, hygiene and stationary kits to the children. They conducted sports competitions for the kids. The winners were given medals by the PwC team on the occasion of Republic day celebrations at Ashray Akruti. Volunteers from Cognizant came forward to fulfil the wish list of students and distributed the items the students had wished for. HSBC volunteers also had an Origami session with the children.

Story from the field

Sai Praneeth hails from a very poor family in Hyderabad. His father works as a salesperson with an automobile company while his mother is a homemaker. The family income is barely enough to feed the family. It came as a big shock to his parents when they realized that their child was hearing impaired. With no proper guidance and no access to facilities for a child with hearing loss, the parents felt helpless. They wanted him to have a normal childhood and wanted him to go to school. They enrolled him in a school nearby. He made no progress and could not get along with the other hearing children. Some of their well-wishers advised them to train him in special skills. Without further delay, they started exploring for schools that could train him and came across Ashray Akruti. They enquired about the school and the services offered by the organization for the hearing impaired. They approached the school for admission and enrolled him here in January 2013.

Current Status: Sai Praneeth is studying in Grade IV at Ashray Akruti. He is being helped with speech therapy and auditory training, which helped him to improve in his listening and speech skills. The special educators are helping him with academics. He shows good interest in studies especially English. He also responds well to the questions asked by the teachers in the classroom. His parents are very happy with his progress at Ashray Akruti.The special educators here help him to lip-read, speak and listen. Interests and Hobbies: Sai Praneeth is a very active child. He enjoys playing games, drawing and craftwork. His favourite subject is Computer.