It was a dream come true for past president Sargam Falari from RC Bicholim, RID 3170, as two objectives of his pet mission were fulfilled one by one, but after much planning and deliberations. This included setting up therapy rooms for differently- abled students at the Narayan Zantye School for Special Children, Vathadev, in North Goa, and providing a teachers’ training programme for around 40 special instructors.
Project Smita (Smiles), the first global grant project ($47,000) of the club, has set up three therapy rooms for audiology-speech therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy with diagnostic equipment, tools and learning aids for special children, inaugurated in September 2025. “During my tenure as club president (2023–24), I visited the special school and heard from the teachers that the growth of their special children is not keeping with the metrics of national standards for those with learning disabilities. First, they lacked the right equipment and special therapy rooms that help in rehabilitation. Second, teachers needed special training for handling differently-abled children,” recalls Falari, the primary contact of the project.
Following the inputs from the special school, his team looked into the pros and cons of setting up therapy rooms “with needs assessment done before applying for the GG.” Once the GG funding was sanctioned, “therapy rooms were created in 18 months, fully-equipped for teachers to impart life skills to their special children.”
Expressing his happiness, club president Damodar Shrinivas Prabhu says, “all our 64 members are elated to see this project through for special children. The 20-year-old school has around 180 students in various age groups suffering from varying disabilities and needing diverse approach by a set of special instructors. Right now, the school has 30 special teachers.”
Now these special rooms will facilitate the identification and grooming of children in craft skills such as pottery, making of paper bags, cloth bags, agarbathis, diyas (for festivals), embroidery etc, says Jyoti Sawant, club secretary. “Three therapists — one each for physiotherapy, audio-speech and occupational skills — will help the special teachers in mentoring the students,” she explains.
But getting the facilities ready is only half the work done. “We had a domain expert Ketaki Parob, psychologist, who took an exhaustive four-month course (Dec-Mar) for 40 special teachers, including 10 trainees from another school, spread over eight sessions on the ways to handle different types of special children whose needs and difficulties vary,” says Falari. All the trainee teachers were given completion certificates at an event held in April. Thanking Rotary, Manjiri Jog, a teacher, says, “We are grateful to the Bicholim club for upgrading our teaching skills to such high standards. This new perspective will guide us to look after the special children better.”
Speech and audio therapist Deepaswi Sawant points out the “new therapy rooms will ensure faster development of children… making them to adapt to the practical world. We have heard so much about the global work done by Rotary, but this special project gave us the real feel of Rotary’s magic.” It was an emotional moment for the project team led by Falari as “I could sense a mission accomplished well in time.”
RC Lake Arrowhead, RID 5330, US, is their global partner. PDGs Gaurish Dhond and Vinaykumar Pai Raikar inaugurated the therapy rooms at the special school, a part of the Keshav Seva Sadhana group of educational institutions in Goa.