Rotary upgrades a special school
While basic education and need-based skills are provided at Sumedha, a school for differently-abled children run by Vishwajaneena Trust in Udupi, a survey highlights that there are nearly 2,800 people who are mentally-challenged and this includes 1,300 children below 14 years of age who need skill induction.
The school, constructed in 2007 to cater to 100 children, accommodated only 50 students due to lack of sufficient resources. Flooded with requests from villagers to admit more students, the Trustees contacted Rotary Club of Udupi, D 3182, to provide facilities such as transportation, teaching aides, furniture, physio care equipment and computers so that the operating environment can be enhanced to benefit more students.
“The villagers, mostly farmers, don’t have money to send their children to far-off places for training and rehabilitation. They depend on this school to shape their children,” said Ramachandra Upadhyaya, IPP of RC Udupi and Project Coordinator.
The club, under a global grant with support from RC Central Chester County, D 7450, and TRF, equipped the school with two buses, furniture, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and fitness equipment, an audio-visual equipment and computers for office and children, at a total cost of ₹30 lakh.
DG Abhinandan Shetty and Vasanth Prabhu, a member of the foreign club and who hails from Udupi, handed over the facilities to the Trust Chairman Vishwaprasanna Theertha Swamiji, in the presence of DRFC Sadananda Chatra, IPDG G N Prakash, DGND Rajarama Bhat and RC Udupi President Chandrashekar Adiga.
