A School Powered for a Transformative Mission
FIRST STEPS – Our Beginnings
Saadhya School was founded in 2006 by Dr Meena Jain with a core goal to empower intellectually disabled children with education and provide them with employment-linked skills to foster livelihood opportunities and boost entrepreneurial spirit. By enabling education, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, we enable special individuals (women, youth and adults) to become socially resilient, financially independent and advance livelihood opportunities.
Founder’s Address
Taking ownership of Saadhya School gave me a unique experience and excitement as Sambhav Foundation in association with other donors (Organizations and Individuals) are relentlessly investing collaborative efforts to empower vulnerable communities (youth, women and adults) particularly who are intellectually disabled and have no support to improve their livelihood, earnings and social welfare/status.
Our inclusive approach and infrastructural support meets an individual’s needs from education, health, social activity, career to entrepreneurial opportunities. Today, Saadhya has not only impacted intellectually disadvantaged individuals but has become a learning ground for mentors, interns and caretaker experts in social care, a transformative engagement for donors/stakeholders, and a hope for parents under professional commitment or financial insecurity to envision a holistic development in their child.
TOGETHER WE THRIVE – The Saadhya Experience
Located in a perfect ambiance in the city of Bengaluru, Saadhya brings people from all walks of life to get immersed into a unique experience of how intellectually-challenged children are empowered to strive and build a transformative community. Not losing a minute, our active and vibrant team of teachers, care takers, mentors and administrative staff constantly engage with the intellectually disabled children to empower them in every way from learning & development and social activities, to naming the food menu, outdoor visits, crafting products to interacting with the mentors and welcoming guests/visitors.
As the school operates from 9 am to 3 pm, every infrastructure and facility from pantry, life-skill training & computer rooms to open space interactive halls, everything is designed to meet the inclusive needs of the intellectually disabled children and make them feel at home. Saadhya is not alone in this empowerment mission but is supported by enthusiastic donor partners (organizations and individuals) who not only donate funds but collectively commit to transform the lives of the intellectually challenged communities through timely & strategic interventions and spreading awareness toward creating a more socially inclusive society.
In this special edition and as we close for the annual year 2023-2024, we bring you a glimpse of the empowerment initiatives, new milestones and inspirational stories that has not only transformed our outlook about intellectually challenged community but also strengthened our empowerment mission to uplift the vulnerable communities to make impact at scale!
HEARTWARMING ADVENTURES – Student Ahead of the Normal
Nishitha R Murthy can read, write, dance and even create excellent at art, but can you believe if this is possible by a child who has speech and hearing impairment? Yes, Nishitha enthralls everyone in this way. Coming from a modestly middle class family, Nishitha’s parents aspire her capabilities despite her challenges should not stop at any cost, and what fulfils their passion is the care and support at Saadhya School.
Though Nishitha completed her Class 2 in the regular school, her impairment challenges demanded special attention. Her admission into Saadhya gave her space to discover new talents and potentials as all her mentors discovered her hidden talents in art and dance.
Nishitha took her mentors by a storm of surprise as she successfully completed her Class 10 exams in just 3 years conducted by the NIOS Board, which usually takes 5 years for a special child. Among the 50+ participants, Nishitha won the 1st prize in dance in the Kalangana Cultural event organized in January 2024 which brought pride to her parents and mentors. This April is special for Nishitha as she is chosen to be as an Assistant Art Teacher for a Summer Camp.
BUILDING CONFIDENCE – A Mentor’s Journey
Opportunities are countless for anyone with an MSc in Biotechnology degree, but what differentiates Abhilasha Satish is her attitude of choosing a passionate career over a prospective one! Possessing a deep interest to serve vulnerable community like the intellectually disabled, Abhilasha found her ambitions met when she joined Saadhya in 2019.
Geared with critical technical and interpersonal abilities, her relentlessly engagement with special children has made them confident, intellectually nimble and more sociable. From training vision and hearing impaired children to individuals with seizure and mental retaliation problems, Abhilasha feels that she is embracing a world of new experiences, interaction and care.
Her personalized care and supportive teaching pedagogy has enabled students to pass Class 10 within 3 years instead of 5 years under the NIOS board. Her encouraging and engaging teaching methods have even led children to pursue Class 12. She trains students on 5 key subjects under the NIOS syllabus that covers Math, English, EVS, Personal Development and Soft Skills. Alongside teaching, Abhilasha takes students on an outbound visit to parks, commercial places and banks that they apply theoretical learning in real-life instances. By organizing these activities, special children are able to relate and engage with the concepts much faster, notes Abhilasha.
“I find a deep purpose from supporting intellectually challenged community as we not only help them to survive but to strive and be transformed and impactful individuals. Inspired by Saadhya’s empowering mission, I take this mentoring opportunity as a challenge to help intellectually disabled community find their inner self. For every trainer like me, Saadhya is a promising platform to explore meaningful service to impact vulnerable lives at scale,” says Abhilasha.
THE JOY OF SKILLING – Discovering the Inner Talent
Gowaramma M has been with Saadhya for more than 19 years now. Her inspiration in social care, particularly empowering intellectually challenged community was sparked by Dr Meena Jain (Psychiatrist at Saadhya). She confides working with Dr Meena was a memorable experience as she learned to identify the capabilities of every individual (aged from 16-45 years) and train them with a wealth of micro-entrepreneurial vocational skills and interpersonal traits to build sustainable livelihood. Every training is strategically designed to ensure that every special individual is able to learn a skill one step at a time.
Gowaramma feels excited about the motivation levels every individual possess as they are now able to produce sweet delicacies to consumer durable products from chocolates, chutney powder, paper envelops, candle making, tailoring, diyas, doormats to jewelry. Besides these, they are trained to profile products, calculate price and communication to market their products through different online markets and on-site sales during different seasons as well as hone micro-entrepreneurial abilities and advance livelihood opportunities.
Counting on her journey, Gowaramma says, “Working with special individuals, I learned many things beyond what I gave them. I learned the art of patience, humility and make-possible attitude. After journeying for 19 years, Saadhya has been a major source of inspiration in running an extra mile to empowering vulnerable communities and transforming them into impactful individuals.”
BUILDING SMART MINDS – A Techy’s Passion
Completing BA and Diploma in Animation along with an MS certification, Dilip Ramalingam chose a vocation which might bring both a surprise and shock to all of us, yet we need to agree when he says the vocation was not his choice but his lifelong passion! Dilip started his journey with Saadhya in 2019. Unlike other teachers and vocational trainers, Dilip’s role is a little dynamic and critical as he trains intellectually challenged students with tech skills.
Knowing the progress special students make every year, Dilip has taken his teaching to the next level of introducing a 3-month goal-setting model, where every special student based on their IQ level is assigned a goal of learning a computer skill. After 3 months they are assessed on their performance.
He trains special children under the Vocational training and NIOS board on Basic Computer Operations, Data Entry, MS Office, Excel, Form Entry, Typing and other allied skills for an average 45 minutes a day. Every child is given a personalized care and attention during teaching and assessments.
“As a technical professional I would have ended up as a successful corporate professional with a handsome salary and perks, but the experience Saadhya School gave me is exciting, nurturing and lifelong. Interacting with special students helped me build new potentials and push beyond boundaries of normal teaching. Every student is a unique experience for me. Understanding their creative and aptitude levels gave me immense opportunity to shape my own teaching experience in giving my best to make every child an impact creator,” says Dilip.
We do not understand what the families of these intellectually challenged children go through amidst of protective parents or siblings and other amazing networks, but as a special care school, Saadhya’s pride and vision takes on when it watches them learn, share, and thrive as unique community. Our excellence over these years owes to our deep involvement in the lives of the marginalized communities and empowering them with equitable opportunities for a scalable impact!
