Campus Talk: From music to gymnasium to carpentry and pottery, this Worli school for visually-challenged completes 100 years

Amid the hustle and bustle on campus with staff and students prepping to set a flawless performance for the guests attending the centenary function, there is the school’s music instructor, Hiren Dave, a visually-challenged individual who began his journey with Happy Home as a student in 1985.

Dave said the school set the ground for his love for music. “Teachers helped me identify and hone the talent. As a result, when I moved out of school in 2003 after completing Class 10, I pursued higher education in music.”

Dave completed training as Sangeet Visharad (Advanced certification in Indian Classical music, often considered equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree in music) and joined Happy Home School for the Blind as music instructor in 2010. “I am happy to be teaching blind children; the skill that helped me turn my life around,” said Dave, who is now married with two kids and lives in Mumbai’s Sandhurst Road.

Dave’s is just one among many such inspiring stories at Happy Home School for the Blind. Despite starting as a boys’ school with a residential facility, the school now also admits girls. “We aim to provide a normal atmosphere for blind children to thrive and make a life for themselves in this crowded world,” said Meher Banaji, school director and a Padma Shri award winner in 2004.

Apart from classrooms for mainstream education, the three-floor building in Worli offers other facilities tailor-made for visually-challenged individuals. ( Express Photo)

Recalling the history of the school, Banaji said, “The concept of educating blind children 100 years ago was considered rather radical, as they were considered capable of traditional crafts like weaving, basket-making etc. This was a challenge to our founder, the late Coomi Sohrab Bharoocha, who worked relentlessly to make this dream a reality. The school was then housed on the top floor of the BDD Chawls, classrooms by day, which were converted into dormitories at night. In 1971, the school shifted to its current location on Annie Besant Road in Worli, where children with visual/multiple impairments take their first steps to understand their environment and begin to learn that their world is connected to what they hear, feel, and touch but cannot see.”

Apart from classrooms for mainstream education, the three-floor building in Worli offers other facilities tailor-made for visually-challenged individuals, such as a library, computer lab, music room, etc. There are also operational workshops for carpentry, pottery, textile — manual as well as machine weaving — for students’ exposure to various skills which would help them earn a livelihood should they face difficulty in mainstream academics. The school also has a functional gymnasium for students.

Hiren Dave, a visually-challenged individual is just one among many such inspiring stories at Happy Home School for the Blind. ( Express Photo)

Insisting on the importance of all such facilities, Banaji said, “In a regular school, blind children do feel isolated as their movement as well as participation in activities is limited. For example, in a regular school, blind students are asked to sit aside for the gymnasium class, but here our students perform greatly coordinated gymnastics. We want our students to be independent and confident to make a living in this world”.

It is not compulsory for students enrolled here to pay fees. Apart from donations from philanthropists, the school also earns money by holding exhibitions of items prepared by blind students. Due to the music programmes being held successfully at the school, the students’ choir performs at various locations in Mumbai, such as the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Afghan Church, etc, during Christmas and other occasions.

Apart from learning various extra-curricular activities, students appear for the Maharashtra State Board Class 10 exam at the school. After passing out, many students move on in life, but several individuals like Dave return to reassociate with it, as the campus makes them feel at home.

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