A social project report on
- 1. A SOCIAL PROJECT REPORT ON “Study of Operations of a School for Blind” SUBMITTED BY Sagar Ahire 8301 Dr Matin Raje 8308 Bhavna Kulshrestha 8302 Rahul Pawar 8335 Vikas Wale 8303 Sheetal Bhandare 8338 Girish Nerkar 8304 Sayena Hosseinmardi 8340 Sonal Wankhede 8305 Aditya Patankar 8342 Prafull Kumawat 8307 Jagdish Kapure 8336 UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF Mr. Manish Varma Faculty, PUMBA. 2. DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF PUNE (PUMBA) * (2008-2010) * Index Sr. No. Topic Page No. 1 Introduction 1 2 Why this Project? 1 3 Pune Blind School And Home for Blind – A Journey 2 4 Infrastructure 4 5 Operations 7 6 Human Resource 8 7 Internationaler Bund 10 8 Recent Activities 10 9 Financial Aspects 11 10 Suggestions 13 11 How can we help? 14 12 Road Ahead 15 3. Introduction India has misfortune of having the largest number of blind persons in the world. Blindness is a disability, which one can overcome with proper training and guidance. Persons affected by blindness need opportunities for quality education, skills, training, rehabilitation, employment and a full social and family life. Causes of Blindness: There are many things which cause blindness. Sometimes babies are born blind, but most blind people become blind later on. Glaucoma, cataracts, and diabetic retinopathy are the three most common causes of blindness today. Many older persons lose their vision from macular degeneration. Some people become blind through accidents. Why this Project: Person’s affected by blindness just need an opportunity. Here's a list of some occupations in which blind people are working today, but there are many more. Farmers, lawyers, secretaries, factory workers, drill press and lathe operators, nurses, child care workers, social workers, computer programmers, insurance salespeople, housewives, teachers, professors, telephone operators, counselors, librarians, mid wife, aerobic instructor, HR Managers, Bankers, stockbrokers, accountants, journalists, and many, many more. If you believe that they can do the job, and if employer believes he can, there are very few jobs blind people cannot do. It is most important for blind people to have the chance to choose whatever job they want, and for the public to give blind people the opportunity. 4. Though this looks good, there is basic support, infrastructure, facilities, that are need to be provided to these people, only then they will be able to work independently. For this basic education i.e. education up to 10th is the most important and critical. Major problems are faced by the Blind people are mainly in this age group. Once they are guided properly then they can live normal life afterwards. This critical job of educating them is done by Blind schools. So we decided to do our group social project in A Blind School. We selected Pune Blind School in Koregaon Park, Pune. The organization being an NGO, it’s very critical for them to manage the students, donations , finances, disbursements of finances, procurements, staff, and all this in limited resources. The main objective was to understand the management, operations, resources, finances and overall working of the organization. PUNE BLIND SCHOOL AND HOME FOR
- 2. BLIND – A Journey With the motive of making the blind people self sufficient Late Dr. Shankar Ramkrishna Machwe founded THE PUNE BLIND SCHOOL AND HOME FOR BLIND on 28th February 1934. Being an ophthalmologist himself he knew the importance of vision, and thus started the school to take the blind from darkness towards light. It was a period when there were only a handful of schools for blind through out the country. They had no connection with each other and operated as they wished. Dr. Machwe traveled the entire country and paid visit to these schools to understand how his own school for blind should be. People started understanding the importance of such a noble cause and slowly the funds started coming in. On the back of such donations the school which was earlier located in Somwar Peth was moved to a 5 acre campus in Koregaon Park. With prior experience of working with a blind school in Mumbai he knew the needs of blind children and the methods needed to educate them. He started gathering the essentials for running the school and thus started the school. 5. Only blind boys were admitted to this school but what about blind women and girls? Keeping this in mind even blind girls were admitted in the same school. With the dream of running separate blind schools for both girls and boys the foundation stone was laid by the first President of India Dr. Rajendra Preasad on 5th November 1959 for a blind school for girls. Dr. Machwe left this world on 21st November 1969. From here on the operations of the schools were looked at by his daughter Late Mrs. Mangala Desai. With the aim of making the blind girls self sufficient a training centre for them was started on 1st January 1979. The state government after understanding the importance of such a cause started giving grants to schools and this helping hand is still there for support. The girls learn the art of candle making, jewellary making, weaving and stitching. The schools also provide computer training to its students. This is the only school of its kind in the entire state and its celebrating its 75 years in existence this year. The students graduating from these two institutes have made a name for themselves in various walks of life and are self sufficient. They are taking part in various competitions and are leaving behind even children without and visual imparity. Such has been the success of the children of these two schools that they have entered even the Guinness Book of World Records. The institute has won many awards at national level. Variety of Training Imparted at the School • Free Academic education from Nursery to S.S.C. • Training in Vocal and Instrumental Music upto Visharad. • Training in Handicrafts. • Training in Various Vocation like Candle Making, Chalk Making, Handloom Weaving, Massage and Computer typing. • Home Science unit. • Co-curricular activities like Scout & participating with Sighted children in Essay and Elocution competition. • Library with Sighted and Braille books and Audio cassettes. There is one Music School and Workshop where students can learn different instruments. They have also formed their own Music Orchestra There are 3 dormitories. Each one has around 15-17 two floor Box Beds occupying 30-34 students. Cupboards for each student. There is TV in each room for entertainment. Each student
- 3. gets toothpaste, Hair Oil, Soap, Books, Stationary, and Cloths….etc. free of cost. The Training Centre for the Teachers of the Blind School at Koregaon Park, Pune. The Inner Infrastructure of Pune Blind School: Nursery for the Blind babies Well Equipped Training Centre for Blind Women at Kothrud with 50 Blind and other Handicapped Women. The Blind Girls School also on 5 acres in Kothrud having its own specious Building accommodating 98 girls. The Blind Boys School on 5 Acres. Currently there are124 residential boys and 16 day scholars. The 16 day scholars are the students from nearby area and they stays at their home at night and in daytime at school. 6. • Well maintained Garden and Park. • Training in Yoga, Sports and Swimming. • Massage facility provided at your doorstep. Infrastructure: The Infrastructure of Blind School was sufficient enough for students to take care their daily activities. Overall infrastructure includes following: Co-Curricular activities like Scout Home science Unit. Training in various Vocation like Candle Making, Chalk Making, Handloom Weaving, Message, Computer typing. Training in Handicrafts. Training in Vocal and Instrumental Music upto Visharad. Free academic education from Nursery to S.S.C. Free Boarding, Lodging, Medical Aid. Also they enjoy in-house games like Carrom and Chess. Following is the list of facilities provided to them: They also enjoy playing cricket at the ground at their hostel premises. They are provided with different type of Bats and Balls specially made for blinds. The students take basic education of class 1st to class 4th from The Pune Blind School. They take education from class 5th to class 7th at Kasturaba Gandhi Vidyalay, Koregaon Park. Then next education of class 8th to class 10th at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Secondary School, Yerwada. For these two schools they go by School Bus provided by Pune Blind School. There is one Braille Library for students. There is one Typing Classroom where students learn type writing. There is also one computer room for students which is donated by Cybage Softwares pvt. ltd. The computer room consists of 18 computers. 7. & Well Maintained Garden Library with Sighted and Braille Books and Audio Cassettes. participating with Sighted Children in Essay and Elocution Competition. & Park. Training in Yoga, sports, Swimming. Dormitory Braille Book Modified Cycle 8. 9. Handicrafts & Handlooms Made by Students Operations: The school is very well managed and operated with limited resources of both staff and other materials inventories required for day to day activities and facilities provided for the students. Daily Schedule: Daily schedule for all the students is fixed as it eases the operations and maintains discipline. It also helps the staff of 29 to control such a group of 155 students. Functional Division: For the operational ease the students are mainly divided in two categories. • 1st – 4th Std.: These students study in the same building and they study in Brail Language. They are provided with a servant who takes care of them right from bath in the morning till night. They are given accommodation in a single hall with proper care taker. • 5th – 10th Std.:
- 4. 10. These students are provided with all facilities. No care taker is provided as they are supposed to become self sufficient in every thing they do as they grow up. They are provided with breakfast, lunch, dinner and separate beds to sleep. They go into normal schools and learn with normal students. A writer is provided for giving final examinations. A bus facility is provided for the students which drop them to their respective schools and pick them up. Facilities Provided: Every student is provided with following facilities. • Food: Breakfast, Milk, Lunch & Dinner. • Residential Facilities: Bed, Lockers, daily consumables, etc • Educational Facilities: Brail Books, Radio, Tape recorder, • Commercial Education: Chalk Making, Teaching Musical Instruments, Canework, Singing Classes, etc • Entertainment: Radio, Television, Library, Audio Cassettes, CD’s, Games like Chess for Blind, Singing balls, Mecano, Sea- Saw, etc Materials: Materials required are taken from two sources. • Local Merchant: Materials required for daily activities are procured from a local shop as per requirement. • Donations: Materials are taken in the form of donations. They are accepted only in the form of dry ration and not in ready to eat form. This is very good as it takes care of quality of food and eliminates risks involved in taking cooked/ ready to eat food as a donation. Human Resource: The gentle, soft-spoken principal of this school Chadrakant Vaman Bhosale is himself visually impaired. He is also an alumnus of this school. He says that the mission of their school is to provide their students with the skill sets to enable them to live their lives in the sighted world From Class 1 to 4, the children are taught Braille on campus. From Class 5 until Class 10, the students go to regular schools. Regular schools have resource teachers to help 11. these kids; for the ones that don’t, the Trust tries to help out by providing writers for the children The school accepts students between the ages 4 and 10, and the students may stay until they are 18, or they finish their 10th, which ever is sooner. The children are taught to be comfortable with their disability. The school also teaches the children music, both vocal and instrumental, caning of chairs and even computers Employees: • Teaching staff: 10 • Non-teaching staff-17 • Other employees-5 Qualifications of Teachers: Person should have “Blind Teacher Diploma” degree and as per government regulation. The various activities include Craft, Music, Sports, Physical Education, & Shirdi Sai Baba Nursery. Teachers are available to teach all these activities. From 2003 computer education was started. Computer skills are taught to the student from 3rd standard onward up to 10th standard. Teacher Training programme: The organisation has started Teacher Training programme in 1990. It has received recognition from Rehabilitation Council of India, New Delhi. There was a great demand for the teacher Training Centre as there was not a centre in Maharashtra. So organisation started the Teacher Training Centre in Pune for Maharashtra. Up till now it has trained nearly 200 teachers. Volunteers: 12. The Poona School & Home for Blind Trust recognizes that contribution of time and talent are just as important as financial contribution. Therefore encourages volunteers to contribute their time for it. Internationaler Bund: During our visit, we came across a
- 5. group of German young people in the school. We talked to them out of curiosity that what they are doing there. Reply was they are here for a period of 1 year as apart of social project in their curriculum. They came here via a German NGO Internationaler Bund which has contacts with Pune Blind School. It is group of 8 people consisting of 4 boys and 4 girls. Boys work in School in Koregaon Park and Girls work in School for Blind girls in Kothrud. They do following activities: • Spend their entire day time in the school with the children. • Take English and Computer teaching classes for the students. No compensation is given to them as it’s voluntary. • Counseling the students. • Conducting various games for the students as a part of personality development. 13. The activists are not given any compensation as it is a social activity but their day to day living expenses are bourn by German NGO. Recent Activities: The Poona Blind School does not only provide formal education to the students but along with this it also imparts vocational training in jewellery making, stitching etc. to the blind students. Apart from these traditional courses, one unique course has been recently initiated for the visually challenged girls, women; they are trained in the art of massage by a trained doctor. They are given guidelines about the standard of hygiene to be maintained. They are also taught the use of different kinds of oils and creams and their benefits. Since the massage institute is dependent on the NGO, financial institutions such as Bank of Maharashtra and State Bank of India are coming forward to fund some amount. Thus a group of trained female masseurs now run a massage center set up in the serene localities of Kothrud. They offer Swedish massage to female clients only at very affordable prices. The school has provided these girls the necessary infrastructure such as hot water geysers, perfumes for aroma therapy, and different types of oils, powders and related cosmetics. Going a step ahead the institute provides them with cell phones as well which helps them to reach the client’s place for a massage appointment. The school is soon about to launch a diploma course with Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth (TMV) in massage for the girls, which will include three months of practical training and three months of theoretical education. TMV will arrange lectures on aroma therapy and physiology of the body. The students will also be taught Thai and Chinese massages and will be awarded formal diploma certificates. This will be helpful to the girls to find jobs at beauty parlors, five star hotels and massage centers. They also plan advance courses in ayurvedic courses as well. The fashion show titled “Small Wonders” was organized by Career Forum Fashion Academy over the weekend. All the outfits worn by the kids were designed by the academy’s students on the national flags of different countries. But the highlight of 14. the show was the seven visually impaired kids from the Poona School and Home for the Blind Trust who walked the ramp. This school has formulated various schemes for the disabled students and it will soon start 50 centers for the guidance of the disabled people. These schemes include providing railway passes, ST bus passes, handicap certificate, airplane pass, self employment, marriage bureau, etc. Financial Aspects: Sources of Funds: The Blind Boys School gets funding from the government
- 6. of Maharashtra and Donations received by The Poona School & Home for The Blind which has been registered as Charitable trust under the Charitable Trust Act. There are 155 residential students in the school and 17 day scholars.There are 31 employees. The sources and applications of the funds can be summarized as follows- Funds from the government- Department of Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra grants aid to the school for 100 students only and aid given is as follows- Sr. No. Particulars Amount (Rs.) 1 Aid per student-Rs 630/-per student 63000 per month for 100 students 2 Salary expenses of 31 employees 100%( amount not revealed) 3 60% of total rent of school (Total 43813 Rent Per month= Rs.73022/- In addition to the above aid, Social Welfare Department of Government of Maharashtra also gives partial aid for the miscellaneous expenses like stationary. 15. Funds from Public and Corporate: School receives the donations from the Public and to some extent from the corporate. Donations received by the trust from people and corporate per month are 2.5 to 3 lacs Some examples of corporate help to school- • Developing the Computer centre with help from Cybage Pvt.Ltd. • Help to develop school garden by IBM • On an average 10 to 15 meals per month are sponsored by people or corporate. School accepts Rs.1800/- per meal and prepares the food itself. Expenses incurred by school: • The expenses incurred by the Poona Blind School are Rs1200 per student per month. • In addition to this, Rs 73022/- are paid as rent for the School Building. • The school also has the rehabilitation Fund to help the students having ability and willingness to start their own venture. It provides aid to the extent of Rs. 25000/- per student. The balanced amount if any is deposited with the trust. Similarly the additional requirements if any are fulfilled by the trust. Currently School has the adequate fundings and support available and hence it want to implement some new ideas which are listed below- • Expansion of the Braille Library & audio Cassette Section by having sound proof room for recording. • Gymnasium cum Recreation Hall. • To start a massage centre in Boys school to impart training. Suggestions: We could summarize some of the problems, future requirements and would like to make some suggestions 16. These are the current requirements of the school • Typing tutors needed for high school girls & boys • Computer teachers • During exams there is a special need for writers There are already some programmes which are helpful for students to gain self employment skills. But as Principal Bhosale sir rightly said, “We want to be with the society and mainstream”. So, we would like to suggest - • Starting call centre training programme for students for imparting self- employment skills in the changing industrial environment. • Computer courses that fulfills need of industry. Some suggestions regarding improvement in systems are • Enable the payment of donations by providing e-payment option. • To encourage Computer education in girls school. • To organize community programs by blind students so as to serve two purposes – o Develop self confidence among the students o Create a sense of responsibility towards the students by the community. • Initiate career counseling sessions to guide the students to help
- 7. them have a better and independent future. How can we help…? Financial Support: Support in monetary form, donations of consumables, foods, books, games, musical instruments, clothes. The donations can be used for various facilities like… • Expansion of the Braille library and Audio cassette section by having Sound proof room for Recording. • Toys for Nursery babies like Dolls, Stuffed animals, Doll house, etc. 17. • Equipment for the Nursery like small cots, chairs, desks, washing machines, fridge, etc. • Gymnasium cum recreation hall. • Eye hospital for the prevention of blindness. • To start a massage centre in boys school. • To develop computer lab in Girls school. • Braille printer for our Girls school. Active Volunteering: You can actually go there and do work voluntarily like teaching, counseling, entertainment, mentoring, organizing picnics, helping in day to day working activities, etc. Donate your eyes: Awareness about Eye Donation can be increased through various mediums like through schools, offices, and other social groups. The internet can also be an effective medium. Many of the students have corneal opacities due to which they are totally or partially unable to see. Here one procedure can change their life drastically. It is called corneal transplant. For this eye donation is the prerequisite. In India the concept is in the nascent stage and awareness is low. Even if aware many do not go for donating corneas due to various reasons ranging from traditions to misconceptions about the procedure. The miniscule who have registered for corneal donation are converted into actual donors because of the overburdened healthcare system of the country. Not all of them are reached in the prescribed time frame necessary for the removal of cornea from the cadaver. If we want to overcome this problem we will have to increase the registrations done for Cornea donation manifold. Only then we can help the people with corneal opacities to gain vision and enjoy what we all can. The Road Ahead Even though today both these institutes are recognized they face their own problems like shortage of teaching staff for various arts which are a source of living for these blind children. 18. The schools need centers for production so that they can find employment at the institute itself. Making laws for blind people isn’t sufficient but knowing whether they are implemented or not is necessary. The institute aims at opening a hospital for blind as the state and Pune district in articular has a high number of blind people. The society must understand the importance of eye donation. Even though the institute admits a large number of blind children its not enough as still a large number is left behind. For this new building and training institute are required and this is possible only through donation. Thanks for reading.