On the 7th of August 2024, the students of Amanora School visited Mahavir Nivasi Matimand Vidyalaya, Loni Kalbhor. The purpose of our visit was to facilitate a better understanding of intellectual deficiencies in the real world. The residential school is dedicated to intellectually challenged children from the rural areas of Maharashtra. This government-funded school provides care and grooming for 45 children of 6 to 18 years of age (both boys and girls), free of cost. Their primary goal is to teach these children how to be independent. They believe that every child is unique in their way and needs individual attention. The students are treated with kindness and patience to attain small goals which help form the basis of discipline in their lives. This school also has a very detailed and firm Disha curriculum provided by Jai Vakeel Foundation exclusively developed for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They follow the VAKT (Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic, and Tactile) method to implement the curriculum. An individualized education plan is created for each child by assessing the needs of the children and their progress across different activities from their curriculum. These children are placed based on their physical age and performance with special educators to implement the curriculum in line with the Individualized education plan. When the students of Amanora arrived at the residential school they were briefed about the school’s history, curriculum, processes, and daily life in the school. The students’ questions were later on assessed after the briefing session. After their questions were answered, they were taken to the ongoing classes. the students were very excited to see visitors. Some became very shy and introverted. Some students willingly shook hands and exclaimed their greetings. The teachers explained the habits, the activities, and the student’s behaviors in class. We started to observe many behaviors some of excitement, fear, or shock sometimes. The display of the medals achieved by those differently abled children at district and state levels was noticed and appreciated by our students. The trip came to an end with a feedback and photo session. We left the school 12:30pm, taking back with us this beautiful and unique experience.
After returning, a debrief activity was conducted by Psychology teachers. The whole trip was a well-managed, timely, entertaining as well as experientially educational visit that will be memorable in the memory pot of Amanora School.
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