Thursday, December 15, 2005

MayaBoli School For Hearing Impaired


MayaBoli Deaf and Dumb School
Originally uploaded by vbha.
On 1 Dec 2005 I got the opportunity to visit the Mayaboli Deaf and Dumb school in Yeola. This is a rural area in Nashik district in Maharastra. The school is a proud symbol of what dedication and good will can do even in a resource less environment.

The school houses around 80 deaf or dumb kids. Most (around 70) stay in the school. The school is currently on a rental property which is doubled as a hostel. It has no dedicated financial resource but largely survives on the effort Mr. Arjun Kokate. Local donors have made it a tradition to celebrate occasions like birthdays by contributing to this cause. The school has been functional since last 10 years and it currently up to grade 7. They do follow the curriculum of state board. It takes about a year and half or more to teach a normal school year curriculum to these kids. Of course preschool is much elongated. The staff is around 20 people, including teachers, cooks and other workers.

Pictures are can say more than what I would attempt to paraphrase, , please check them at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/mayaboli/

The goal of this project is to have a self sustainable school upto 10th grade atleast, making sure that the students which it trains are able to stand up for themselves rest of the life. The founder of the school Mr. Arjun Kokate is very well known social worker in the area. He has dedicated his life and so has his wife to the cause of education.