MITHRAM SITE VISIT REPORT

Site Visit and Report by Pavitra Krishnaswamy

Volunteer, ASHA-USC

24/05/2006

Background/Mission:

Mithram is a society that consists of parents of mentally handicapped children. The

Mithram School for the mentally handicapped (disorders range from mental retardation to

cerebral palsy to autism) is being run by this society. The society of ~ 60 members is run

democratically with elected board/management. The people who run it are affected by the

cause personally, and this reflects in their strong commitment to the school as well as the

cause of education/assimilation of the mentally handicapped into normal society. They

are associated with the National Trust for the Mentally Handicapped, National Institute

for Mental Health and other supporting organizations.

My visit was arranged by Prof. T. K. Mani - the Mithram contact for Asha. Since Prof.

Mani was out of town the day of my visit, he helped me co-ordinate with Prof.

Rishikeshan Thampi, another member of the Trust who is closely involved with the

workings of the school. Prof. Thampi was kind enough to drive over and pick me up from

Alwaye where I was staying. The campus is located at Mulanthuruthy, a serene area

amidst rubber plantations, about an hour’s drive from Alwaye, Kerala (and ~ 45 kms

from Cochin which is the closest city). Upon reaching the campus I had a good

conversation with other members of the Trust at the office that familiarized me further

with their mission and the larger issues they are battling.

Being mentally handicapped in India comes with a huge social stigma. Social

awareness of need for special education for the mentally handicapped and the

possibilities for MH children is very much lacking. The government is just starting to

barely recognize the need for special schools to educate MH students. To date there is no

government certification (like the SSC) that qualifies a mentally handicapped person as

capable of a certain type of work or as suitable for a certain type of employment.

Mithram is definitely doing its part in catering to education of MH students and assisting

in outreach/awareness of the cause.

Facilities

• Classrooms are in a large partitioned hall. The students sit in cubicles, and each

cubicle accommodates about 10-12 students – limiting the class size to a

manageable number. The hall also has a front stage where students practice

yoga, dance, or prepare for annual day programs etc.

• Separate physiotherapy locations for boys and girls – girls in an enclosed room

• A full-fledged Care Home consisting of separate quarters for female and male

students/staff.

• Guest bedroom at the Care Home for parents to visit students @ school

• Non-vegetarian balanced diet provided to students as per a weekly schedule –

no red meats to avoid carcinogens – all students are given lunch, and students in

Care Home are given dinner and breakfast as well.

• There are cottages on campus for parents and management – this is sort of like

an old-age home/ monitoring unit where parents or management can stay for a

few months and help with the running of the school/see their children enjoy

education and benefit from it.

• Recently renovated bathroom facilities

• Bus pick up for students from around a 90km radius.

• Dedicated bus driver, gardener, cooks, ayahs – trained on site.

• 10-12 teachers- all lady teachers except for karate master

• On site well as source of water

Funding

Their primary sponsors are Asha-LA and a Kerala Foundation in Netherlands. The

Kerala Foundation mostly pays for one-time investments such as construction projects,

school bus, and physiotherapy materials etc. Asha, therefore is the primary source of

maintenance and running costs. Currently Asha meets half of their annual expenses

including:

• Teacher’s salaries

• Food (in addition to midday meals provided by the Kerala Government)

• Some educational materials

• Transportation costs and running of school bus

There is significant need for further funding sources particularly to keep for

maintenance/running of the school bus and expand the staff. The management is trying to

fill this void by soliciting donations from private individuals in the Gulf and other

sources.

Achievements/Progress

I believe the school is doing a great job of advancing the cause of mentally

handicapped students and spreading awareness about the need for special education to

cater to their needs. The school currently has 50 odd students enrolled out of which there

are 14 female students. The campus has a Care Home that has about 20 residential

students (4 of the 20 residential students are female).

An important advancement is that the Kerala State Government has recently recognized

the school! This recognition not only furthers the cause of education of the mentally

handicapped, but also shows government support for the education and outreach

initiatives the school has been pursuing. This comes with some (good) fringe benefits that

help in the daily running of the school:

• A standardized syllabus to adhere to – approved and prescribed by the

education ministry

• Better ability to recruit qualified teachers publicly

• Midday meal scheme support (rice + green gram dal)

• Invitations to participate in regional sports, cultural meets, hold seminars etc

• Generator donated

• 60 Rs/month scholarship to some students in the age group of 5-18

• Possibility of sanctions for teachers salaries in the future

Classroom teaching is structured mainly according to this syllabus, but geared towards

equipping students for fruitful daily life. As is typical for MH children, 3-4 out of 50 can

read/write but not comprehend, <10% can do basic math. However, the emphasis of the

training in the school is to help students carry out daily tasks, follow basic instructions.

This is reflected in that ~ 80-90% of the students can eat by themselves, watch TV

attentively, play games, bathe/dress and perform gardening/horticultural tasks. The

students are also trained in yoga/physical exercises. They regularly and enthusiastically

compete in inter-school dance/sports events.

Wherever possible, the school strives to inculcate in students skills suited to specific

vocations. Approx 18 out of 50 odd involved in vocational training and one student has

even been employed recently. The vocational training is non-commercial and focused

towards educational/personality building.

They have been progressively making efforts to provide education to children from

poorer families, esp. of daily wage laborers in plantations etc. Significant outreach efforts

are carried out /planned for the future. Some people in the Trust are actually retired

professors with skills for counseling parents and they go to nearby colleges and speak to

local people about mental retardation. Teachers in this school are also involved in

fieldwork during vacation periods to recruit students who may not be aware that they

need special education to cater to their needs.

Current focus/ Needs

Presently the focus is to stabilize the existing establishment while simultaneously

working on outreach issues.

1) In order to retain government recognition, the school has to adhere to the

government stipulation of having separate physical locations for vocational

training and classroom schooling. This requires the construction of a new building

because currently, the partitioned hall contains both classrooms and

noisy/distracting vocational training spaces.

2) Two teachers have left recently to take up government jobs – need to recruit 2

more specialized teachers, and increase teachers’ salaries to recruit

specialized/qualified teachers. Currently 1 teacher is also involved in office

secretarial work and 1 is staying at the Care Home and taking care of the girls in

home. There are also plans to expand on living areas to encourage resident

teachers.

3) Vocational training programs need to be expanded – currently they include

training in candle making, envelope making for small-scale pharmacy shops and

horticulture. Soap making and woodwork would be good additions.

The main problem in furthering the cause of the school seems to be in the area of student

retention. Teachers/management attribute the problems they face in student retention,

outreach, and expansion to parental hesitation i.e ignorant parents pulling students out of

school, not giving accurate support at home etc. To counter this drop out rate (10-15

dropouts in the past 5-6 years1), counseling initiatives such as a Parent Counseling Center

are planned in the near future.

Personal interactions and impressions

In addition to learning about the education of MH children myself, I had the pleasure

of interacting with the management, and the few teachers and students on campus (the

school was on its summer vacation when I visited). The students in the Care Home were

enjoying their holidays. I got to meet a new admit - 57 year old Mani – who touchingly

acquainted me with his life by showing me photographs of his recently deceased parents

and talking about his past. Then at the girls’ Care Home, I met Meenu who was shy but

obviously thrilled to receive guests. I also had the good fortune of having a traditional

Keralite lunch at the Mithram Care Home, and interacting with 2 of the teachers and

some staff members.

1 This includes 2 students who were diagnosed as mentally ill, not mentally handicapped and transferred to

hospitals.

Summer vacation at the male care home ☺

Meenu at the Girls Care Home

Summary and Recommendations

All in all, it was very nice to have the opportunity to meet students, talk to teachers

and discuss issues with the management. The students seem happy and enthusiastic about

their schooling. I would highly recommend that Asha give Mithram its continued support

and also help them in their growth as an institution/mission. Presently, I would like to

suggest that Asha work with Mithram to help as much as possible with the necessary

construction of the new building for the vocational training in addition to continuing our

yearly support of their maintenance expenses.