Feed a differently abled student for a month by Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled

Total number of beneficiaries impacted was 12 in Bangalore with 60% being females

As part of the program, 12 students including disabled students from different parts of Karnataka are provided with residential support at the Samarthanam hostel. Nutritious breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner are provided to the students. Students of Samarthanam hostel facilities at JP Nagar, Prashant Nagar and HSR were supported during this period.

R. Shahbaz Ahmed is a 19-year-old boy and he is blind by birth, belongs to Attibele, Karnataka. He has one elder brother too. His father Rafeeq Ahmed passed away when Shahbaz was young, his mother Shameem Thaj take care of the family with support of the meagre income she is getting from tailoring work. He completed his SSLC from Ramana Maharshi blind school, now he is doing bachelor of commerce in APS college Bangalore. Shabaz loves to travel and he always travels alone. His dream is to work in a MNC. He loves sports and he was a national level athletic player. Shabaz is staying in Samarthanam hostel for the last one year. Samarthanam played a great role in his life; Samarthanam taught him to be independent in life. Residential facility, educational support in the form of scholarships are the support he is getting from Samarthanam with those support he is able to get good education; He is very active in sports and other extracurricular activities.

As part of the program, 16 students, which includes disabled students too, who are residents of Samarthanam hostel were provided with nutritious breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. Students of Samarthanam hostel facility at JP Nagar, Prashant Nagar and HSR facility are supported under the program. The beneficiaries belong to different parts of Karnataka and are differently abled and marginalized, therefore not able to meet their requirements of education including nutritious food. Along with meals the students are encouraged to attend extra-curricular activities, life skills and yoga sessions. Yoga and meditation classes are organized in the morning to ensure the mental health and social well-being of disabled children. Free dance classes, cricket coaching, marathon training, and other sports activities are organized as part of the extra-curricular activities. Assistive aids such as canes for the visually impaired, hearing aid for speech and hearing impaired students, books, and Braille papers for visually impaired students are supported under Samarthanam’s program. Additional training is provided to all the students including the disabled students on the usage of mobile applications and other technical support for the visually impaired. The program supports the achievement of the physical, social and emotional well-being of disadvantaged and differently-abled youth, and their families. This has also reduced the financial and emotional burden on poor and marginalized families including families of differently-abled students. Nobody fell ill during the third wave. we are giving nutritional food and boiling water for drinking and we gave precautions immediately when they were sick with a cold and cough.

As of now, Samarthanam is not facing any challenges, Samarthanam is aiming to achieve and reach out to a maximum number of marginalised and disabled students thus helping them to complete their education with less financial burden.

Ms Deeksha Kumari, a 21-year-old Speech and Hearing impaired girl belongs to a poor family. Her family lives in Bangalore, Karnataka. Her father Dharmendra Kumar is a tailor and her mother is a housewife. She is the third daughter of her parents. Her siblings are also speech and hearing impaired. Being a poor family the family faces a lot of problems and difficulties. Deeksha Kumari completed her primary education at JSS Deaf School, Bangalore. Little Deeksha faced a lot of challenges in completing her education. Adding to this the income earned by her father was not sufficient to meet the educational and day-to-day needs of the family. However, Deeksha managed to complete her SSLC; later with the support of her relatives Deeksha joined Adarsha College for Pre-University (PUC). She studied well and scored 61% in the final year PUC exams. Further to that, she joined B. Com at Adarsha college. Due to poor financial conditions, her father was unable to support her tuition fees and other expenses of Deeksha. Finally, they approached Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled for support. Now she is happily continuing her studies with the support of Samarthanam. She completed her 1st-year graduation program and doing good in 2nd year. Her dream is to grab a job in the banking sector, and she is doing preparations and studies for that too, whenever she is getting the extra time. The nutritious meals provided have helped in Deeksha's improvement immensely. Wishing all the success to Deeksha.

We have provided free accommodation in our hostel with nutritious breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner for 24 students. Differently abled and underprivileged students have approached us for hostel support from all over Karnataka. We are also providing yoga and meditation classes in the morning. Under the extracurricular activities, we are providing them with free dance classes, cricket coaching, marathon training, and sports for all the resident students.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we faced a few challenges: maintaining social distance in the hostel; limiting student intake in the hostel. We overcame it by getting all the students the COVID-19 vaccine, arranging regular RTPCR tests and regular health checkups, serving hygienic and hot food to the resident students, ensuring cooks and assistant cooks maintain high levels of hygiene standards, and sanitizing our hostels regularly. Our goal is to increase the number of resident students in case COVID-19 totally subsides and extend the support to the maximum number of disabled and needy youth.

Suhas M. Kyathanavara is an 18-year-old boy who belongs to the Haveri district of Karnataka. His father, Mohan Kyathanavara, expired recently. His mother, Latha, is a homemaker. Suhas has had a physical disability since birth. He has a 65% locomotor disability and has problems moving around. Suhas was born with a clubfoot and thus had to face many challenges right from birth. Suhas is the only son of his parents. Suhas recalls staying in his native village with his disability in his childhood. One of the barriers for him in his education was the distance from his home to school. Lack of transport was another obstacle. It was a challenge for him as his parents were not aware of his disability. Moreover, they could not afford any medical treatment for him as they were poor. So his grandmother took care of him instead of his parents in their home town. Suhas’ feet were curved inwards at birth, and he struggled to walk like others, though he managed to attend school. He completed his early primary school grades (class 1 and 2) in his home town. But because of his disability, it was very difficult for him to go to school by walking every day. His family couldn’t afford to give Suhas special care and enroll him in a mainstream school. It was then that his uncle and his grandmother decided to put him in a special school. They came to know about Samarthanam through the internet and decided to enroll him in its Bangalore branch. Suhas joined Samarthanam primary school at the age of eight years. Suhas has been in Samarthanam for eleven years and considers the place his family. He completed his primary and high school at Samarthanam. He scored 92% in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) board exam. Furthermore, he joined Christ College to do his Pre-University Course (PUC). There he selected the science subjects’ combination, which is physics, chemistry, biology, and maths. He put in a lot of effort and, without attending any additional tuition classes, he scored 83.33% on the PUC exam held in April 2020. Suhas has now cleared the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) and attained a medical seat at the prestigious Bangalore Medical College. This is truly an accomplishment that needs to be applauded. Samarthanam sponsored Suhas’s entire intermediate education by providing college fees, books, study materials, college bags, free accommodation, nutritious food, and also took care of his medical expenses. Suhas owes his success to Samarthanam for giving him financial support for his education till now. However, Suhas says that his journey was no cake walk. When he completed his SSLC from Samarthanam, he had to face a language barrier as he moved from Kannada medium to English medium. He selected an English-medium college when he got into PUC. He learnt English by interacting with his fellow students and listening to lecturers. Now he is comfortable speaking English and can communicate without any problems. He further faced financial problems in joining coaching for competitive exams like NEET and Common Entrance Test (CET) etc. In this society, because of excessive competition, it is very difficult to find coaching for medical, engineering, etc. Moreover, it is very difficult to pay tuition fees for competitive coaching classes. Suhas had planned to join coaching after his PUC board exams, but due to the corona pandemic, he was unable to do so. Suhas got a lot of books which were required to crack the NEET exams. His cousin's brother was also preparing for NEET exams and he helped Suhas immensely to crack the NEET exam. Suhas ends by saying, “Without his help, I couldn’t have cracked the NEET exam and gotten into medical college. Completing my Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) will be one of my biggest achievements, and my journey to MBBS will begin soon. ” We wish Suhas all success in achieving his dreams further.

15 Disabled and underprivileged youth disabled youth were supported through Samarthanam’s higher education program. students were provided free accommodation, nutritious food, college tuition fees, books and stationery, assistive aids, scribes (during examination).In January books and stationers were distributed to all higher education students of the Bangalore branch in Bangalore.On February 11th, the Department of Empowerment of differently Abled and Senior Citizens of Karnataka had organized the “Word Disability Day” program at Ravindra Kalakshetra, Bangalore. Hon'ble ministers Sri. S.T. Somashekar (Minster of Co-Operation, Govt of Karnataka) and Smt. Shashikala Annasaheb Jolley (Minister of Empowerment of differently Abled and Senior Citizens of Karnataka) visited Samarthanam’s stall. Both the ministers appreciated the work done by Samarthanam Trust for people with disabilities. Beneficiaries and staff from Samarthanam Trust participated in the program.On March 13th, higher education girl students from the Bangalore branch participated in the “International Women’s Day” program held at Samarthanam Trust’s Head Office in Bangalore.

On April 2nd week 2021, the deadly CORONA virus again shook the entire Karnataka State and the State Government announced a complete lockdown. The colleges were closed again and most of the colleges had to continue the teaching through online mode only. Many Educational Institutions / Universities across Karnataka had either postponed or cancelled the annual examinations to be held during April – June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic WAVE -2 crisis. Few Universities had even promoted their students to the next class by considering their internal exam scores and previous semester exam scores. There was a subsequent delay in the admission process and the Educational Institutions were not able to commence the classes as per the regular academic calendar. Students, parents, teachers were all living in a very uncertain situation with regards to the commencement of the academic year and students were also much worried about their academic careers.  Most of the parents were worried about the health of their children due to the sudden onset of COVID-19 WAVE – 2 pandemic crises across the State The resident students were continuously monitored for any COVID-19 symptoms and regular COVID tests were arranged for them in the hostel itself. They were also informed to maintain the COVID appropriate behaviour in the hostel at all times Most of the parents/guardians lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic and children were disturbed and worried about the ways to make the payment to college tuition fees. Many parents informed that they would ask their children to drop out or discontinue this academic year as they were concerned about the safety of their children. Samarthanam coordinators arranged a virtual counselling session for all these parents and students. They informed the parents/students about the importance of continuity of their education and assured full academic & financial support from Samarthanam to each student in whatever way possible. This had a great impact on these parents/students and boosted the confidence level of students. As a result, many students are now continuing their higher education without getting dropped. Despite the ongoing Covid WAVE – 2 pandemic crises, students were supported for higher education Students are now able to continue their higher studies in reputed colleges without getting dropped out

Jagdish was born blind and he completed his primary education in Anganvadi school in Narasapura, a small village near Chickkaballapur, Bangalore rural district. After his primary education, his teachers communicated to him that their school lacked the resources to cope with visually impaired children. Shortly, Sarva SiksahnaaAbhiyana members at the Taluk level came for a baseline survey for an inclusive education program for disabled children in their village. Miss Suma, one of the members of the Sarva SikshanaAbhiyana met Jagadish and suggested his parents make the admission to one of the blind schools in Bangalore. With the help of Miss Suma, Jagdish got admission into Priyadarshini school in Bangalore. Jagadish got well adjusted to the school and he completed his high school also and mastered, music as well.Due to financial problems, Jagadish parents were struggling to arrange hostel and tuition fees for Jagdish for his collegiate education. Jagadeesh’s uncle informed his parents about the Samarthanam Higher Education Program. His parents approached Samarthanam for financial support.Samarthanam Trust has taken care of his further education expenses. Samarthanam provides facilities like free accommodation, food, library, educational needs, scribe and volunteer support, access to audiobooks, etc. that would immensely help him and others like him to overcome their disability and integrate well into the socio-economic structure of India. He scored 67% in Second Year Pre-University Board examination. Currently, he’s pursuing in B.The 3rd year in GFGC Yediyur, College. He has also won prizes in a music competition and every year, he participates in the March Past parade during Independence Day and Republic Day Celebrations. Rightly, proud of his achievements Jagdish wants to become a lecturer in future and is also immensely grateful to his teacher Suma and Samarthanam Trust for the role they have played, to quote in his own words, “without their support it would have been impossible to continue his education”.Jagdish’s case story is a great example of the force of empowerment and liberation that education can wield. It shows how children like Jagadish who suffer from visual impairment can still become a transformative force in their community.

The purpose of the project is to provide higher inclusive education in renowned educational institutions, by providing free food, accomodation, college tuition and admission fees,facilitating students to participate in the online classes by providing tabs and internet data packs, virtual soft skills, English language and technical trainings, and improved standard of living for the differently abled and underprivileged youth.

Samarthanam Trust for the disabled provides residential facilities for differently-abled students pursuing higher education. It extends practical support to bright students with disabilities who are otherwise unable to pursue higher education on account of their physical or socio economic challenges. The pass outs from higher secondary school with physical or social challenges are identified and enrolled into mainstream colleges for courses of their choice while providing them with comfortable residential facilities. Their academic costs and study materials are taken care of by Samarthanam. For our students with visual impairments and other print-related disabilities, the educational materials are also made available in accessible formats like audio books, large print etc. Regular volunteers also extend reading and scribe services. As a result, some of our students have already passed out of premier institutions like IIMs and are now working in large corporate companies.

In the long term the outcome of the program is to create an inclusive society which provides opportunities without any discrimination for the development of the differently abled people.

This academic year, Higher Education Program Coordinators were able to mobilize and enroll differently abled and underprivileged youth in the age group of 15-25 years to the higher education program across Karnataka. The Coordinators connected students through whatsapp groups and enrolled them to the program. They also counselled the students and the parents and motivated the students to continue their education and asked the students not to dropout from their courses due to the long lockdown imposed by the state and central government due to the onset of COVID-19 pandemic crisis across the country.

Yes, there was a slight deviation in the activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis since April 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis the Higher education batch of 2020-2021 was declared a virtual batch.

Challenges due to COVID-19 Pandemic:
For the academic year 2020-2021, most of the Educational Institutions / Universities across Karnataka were either postponed or cancelled the annual examinations to be held during March – August 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Few Universities even promoted their students to the next class by considering their internal exam scores and previous semester exam scores.

There was a subsequent delay in the admission process and the Educational Institutions were not able to commence as usual. Even till date the admissions are still ongoing, reopening of the Colleges / Educational Institutions have been delayed, and are also further dependent on the guidelines from UGC and SOPs from State Higher Education Department. Students, parents, teachers are still living in a very uncertain situation with regards to the commencement of the academic year. Currently, there does not seem to be much clarity on when colleges will function as usual and there is a lot of confusion. Also, most of the parents have expressed their consent to colleges to continue the teaching through online mode.

 In spite of the ongoing COVID pandemic crisis, students have been enrolled to the program
 Students are able to continue their higher studies in reputed colleges without getting dropped out.
 Other differently abled students are also getting motivated to pursue higher studies by seeing their friends graduating successfully and getting employed.
 Increase in self-worth and self-esteem as their on par with their able bodied students
 A purpose for life and streamlining of their focus towards a better future
 A sense of security and emotional bonding.
 The financial burden of 170 plus parents/families have been drastically reduced
 The students are able to focus on their studies without any other financial worries
 Better career opportunities.
 The ultimate results can only be seen in the long term, but we have taken the first step for their holistic development ensuring that in the long term the results are positive.

Joys of providing food to the underprivileged

The youth stay in the residential home under our care and support. We provide for them end to end. We give them nutritious meals and snacks 3 times a day. We would also love to share with you the other facilities we have enabled for our youth.

 English Language training, soft skills, life skills training and computer training were imparted for students.
 Visually Impaired students were provided with audio books which would be helpful for them during examinations.
 For the below average students remedial class was also arranged.
 We have also distributed assistive aids to students
 Scribes were arranged for the visually impaired students for the semester examinations held during November and December 2019.
 Students have participated in various events / extracurricular activities like sports.

Along with academic studies we also recognize strengths/ talents hidden in each student & help to bring out the best in each of them in extracurricular areas like music, dance, theatre, sports etc. Students have participated in various events / extracurricular activities like athletics, Independence Day celebrations.