Hope fades for kids with learning disabilities as funds stop coming

The head of the department of psychiatry at B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital,who coordinated the school mental health programme,Dr Alka Pawar told The Indian Express that the move was going to be the first of its kind,as this time,children from extremely poor families like those of daily wage labourers were also included within the purview of such a project.

A team of experts had visited 35 PMC-run schools,assessed 2,100 children and identified at least 93 children who had a significant level of behavioural disorder. Seventy-six of them were found to be borderline cases. A total of 75 teachers from schools like Banter Bernard School at Hadapsar,Shri Sant Namdev School number 73 B,Dr Ambedkar School number 72 B,Baburao Sanas School number 15 and others were trained in how to counsel these children and their parents.

It took a lot of effort,but the programme received funds to the tune of Rs 5 lakh in 2009-10 and Rs 10 lakh in 2010-11 under the district planning committee. The programme,however,petered out as funds were not forthcoming.

When contacted,Shrikant Hingane,SSA coordinator for inclusive education,PMC,said the school mental health programme was a good initiative. They had to deal with a shortage of experts who can counsel and offer remedial measures to children.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan’s annual exercise to identify schoolchildren with disabilities from both civic and private schools has shown that 8,155 required special attention during 2010-11. In 2012-13,out of 1,140 children referred from PMC schools,54 were found to have serious like problems behavioural disabilities,requiring remedial measures,Hingane said.

During visits to their homes,alcohol consumption by parents,altercations between them and issues relating to single parenting were found to be the key issues leading to the children’s learning problems,Dr Alka Pawar said,while referring to their counselling sessions.

Most of the children identified under the SSA programme hail from poor families and parents tend to neglect them due to work pressure. Hingane also pointed out that these patients cannot afford the cost of treatment in the private sector for learning disabilities.

There are experts who can treat problems such as learning disabilities just like there are professionals to treat loss of vision and hearing or orthopaedic ailments,he said. According to the SSA coordinator,there were at least 293 slow-learners.