Today, India has approximately 3.2 million hearing-impaired people, according to a census taken in 1981. However, recent estimates put the figure at 7 million out of a total of approximately 100 million people with disabilities of all types. On a daily basis, 17 profoundly deaf, 26 severely deaf, and approximately 33 mildly to moderately deaf babies are born in India. Perceiving the need for a special school for hearing-impaired children, Ingraham Institute established a school and named it Asha Vidyalaya (“The School of Hope”).

The Need for Special Education

A deaf child, who may look no different from any other child, can be a silent sufferer. In India, the deaf are perhaps the least understood among handicapped people, for other physical challenges are obvious, but deafness is not immediately apparent. Maltreatment of the deaf has continued since ancient times, when speech was considered an instinct that had nothing to do with hearing. The birth of a deaf child was considered a disgrace to the family. society regarded the child as a beast rather than a human being. However, with the passage of time and with the help of thinkers, believers, and humanists, misconceptions about the deaf and those with no verbal means of communication started changing for the better.

Asha Vidyalaya’s Teachers and Students Asha Vidyalaya is under the administrative control of Ingraham Institute, a facility of the Agra Regional Conference. Ingraham Institute spreads over 35 acres of land in Ghaziabad and Aligarh, in the State of Uttar Pradesh. Established in 1926, it is one of the largest institutions of the Methodist Church in India. Ingraham has a renowned Industrial Training Institute and 12 schools that provide formal education up to the 10th grade level standard. Asha Vidyalaya concentrates on the educational and vocational needs of deaf children. Ingraham Institute is managed by its director with the help of various department heads.

The aim of Asha Vidyalaya was to develop, promote, and support the potential of deaf children to be self-reliant and self-sustained so that they could become active members of contemporary society. With these founding principles, Asha Vidyalaya began with just two students, inaugurated by Eric Mitchell, the bishop of the Delhi Episcopal Area, on May 16, 1975. Today, it has grown to a formidable institution with 135 students. The teachers are seen putting their heads and hearts to their commitment. To ensure the holistic development of deaf children, the students receive maximum assistance in learning, along with care and compassion.

Most of the teaching uses the aid of lip movements and touch. In the speech-development classes, every effort is made to introduce the students to the available scientific methods of communication. The children also learn practically all subjects prescribed in formal education, through the blackboard, lip movement, and signing. To improve communication be- tween the teacher and students, the students are provided with group hearing aids, individual hearing aids, and audiometers. The successful candidates receive informal and vocational training in the vocational technical schools, after which some are employed with local industries.

Tailoring and computer classes for boys and girls are available. The children also participate in physical exercise, organized games, picnics, and educational tours (twice a year). Asha Vidyalaya is probably the only school of its kind in Ghaziabad that, besides taking care of the children, also makes provisions to rehabilitate and educate economically disadvantaged parents through community development, adult education, and training in hygiene, sanitation, and AIDS-prevention.

From time to time, families of poor children are supported with gifts of sewing machines, bicycles, and essential tools to help them become self-reliant and self-supporting. The school tries to ensure that children from poor and marginalized families receive grants for their education and training, along with free room and board in hostel facilities. The quest to contribute toward the uplifting of handicapped and underprivileged children is an unending pursuit that needs sincere commitment and viable short-term and strategic planning.

Plans for the Future

Hope is personified in every venture of Asha Vidyalaya. Here is a place where noble ideas have blossomed into new hope and smiles on the faces of the children.

To remain dynamic in its efforts, Asha Vidyalaya plans to enhance the existing infrastructure of its programs and improve the assistance it can offer to the hearing-impaired. Our immediate plans are to bring the school, which is now at 10th grade level, to 12th grade level with the addition of modern training facilities, computers, student transportation, well-furnished classrooms, and a well-trained faculty. All these immediate requirements need financial resources to the tune of Rs.20 lakhs (US $45,000). We are in the process of identifying funding agencies to help us in this noble cause.

Strategic Planning

We hope and pray that in the years to come, the project, which started with two children, will grow into a formidable institution with modern methods of teaching supported by the latest technology.

Asha Vidyalaya will move forward with the following plans:

1. Conduct awareness programs regularly with the guardians of the hearing-impaired and simultaneously organize special teaching and training programs among groups of interested individuals who subsequently can be utilized by the school or in their locality.
2. Train social workers to raise awareness about the appropriate handling and training of the deaf.
3. Present regular workshops/seminars and research programs to keep pace with the latest developments in the field of deaf education.
4. Provide hostel facilities for boys and girls, with a proper library, sports field, and auditorium.
5. Provide opportunities to the staff to upgrade their training and education in working with special-needs children.

Opening Up the Mission

Besides caring for the deaf and hearing-impaired, Ingraham Institute, in consultation with the Rehabilitation Council of India (a project of the Government of India), is in the process of introducing a special school for mentally and physically handicapped children. It has been established that these children, if trained properly, can become useful members of society. The services will be provided by well-trained educators who will evaluate each child and program individual education plans. Closely linked with the special education facility will be a parents’ self-help group that includes parents, relatives, and friends of the children. Through workshops, seminars, discussions, and counseling, this group will receive training and support to cope with the special demands of raising their children.

We also intend to introduce Home Training Programs for periodical rehabilitation of those with special needs. To help the child find an appropriate place in the community and in contemporary society, we will, after assessing the interest and the ability of each special child vis-à-vis available resources, introduce them to a relevant vocational training program.

To ensure participation, camaraderie, competition, and physical fitness, we plan to introduce a sports training program for these children as well.

All our plans will be in vain if we do not have the proper faculty, instructors, and educators to handle the needs of these special children. Therefore, we would like to start a Diploma Degree Course in special education at Ingraham Institute, which will be an integral part of the school. This will be done in consultation and coordination with the Rehabilitation Council of India, which, besides giving financial help, will also help to meet the practical needs of the course.