Providing a platform for the challenged.

Srinu cannot walk or run like the other children in his school. Most of the ten years of his young life have been spent standing on the side lines and gazing wistfully at the world. Like thousands of others who are also challenged, he has never been part of the mainstream because society considers him a burden.

35.9% of the disabled in India are children in the 0-19 age-group. They lead a life in the gray zone - a place of neglect and isolation often mistakenly interpreting nature’s cruelty as their ‘bad karma’ or fate.

Left behind, neglected and unwanted they wait anxiously, frustrated, for one chance, an opportunity to make them equal.

Ms Sreedevi Mahapatra was a dedicated teacher with a long track record at the Jawahar Navodyay Vidyalaya, Kommadi, a residential, co-educational residential school in Visakhapatnam. Srinu had just been admitted to her school. His disability made him apathetic to work and most children kept away from him.His eyes looked like they were losing the joy of living.

Having worked with children for so long, Ms Mahapatra’s heart went out to Srinu. But sympathy and pity she knew were easy options; instead she asked herself what she could do to enrich his future.

She strongly believed such children needed to be made a part of mainstream education and trained with skills that would make them employable later on.

Her training with Intel Teach made her feel empowered. It had reinvented learning and teaching practices for her. She felt she could innovate education and bring it to Srinu’s fingertips if he could not go to it.

Ms Mahapatra also held that other students needed to be sensitized to the physically challenged. She decided to work on a project on special children with her students.

Under her guidance, the students visited the Training Center for the Physically Challenged at Madhurwada, and the Visakha School for Blind. After interacting with the children there, they developed a presentation for their school outlining the challenges of the handicapped.

Srinu meanwhile, was proving to be very adroit on the computer. He was enthralled by this special opportunity to be one with the class. He worked for long hours and was soon outdoing everyone else. Where earlier his class mates had never taken cognizance of him, now they would come to him asking for information which he had looked up on the computer asking him for help in their work.

Srinu’s dragging feet which had earlier made the children snigger at him now did not seem to affect them. He could now be seen with the others smiling at the same jokes. They would of course be walking slower to accommodate him.

Ms Mahapatra felt a deep satisfaction with her work. Integrating technology into education through the Intel Teach Program she had opened up a new vision of life for Srinu. The training groomed him with skill sets which would help him be a part of the 21st century workforce.

Her project on the physically challenged, based on the Project Based Learning Methodology of Intel Teach, had reaffirmed her belief that their education could be stream lined with ease if normal children could be made aware of their needs.

Srinu was made a class monitor to recognize his efforts.

He might be just one of the thousands of physically challenged children, but he is shining example of how they can adapt in society if given a chance. Recent research has shown that computer/digital technologies can help children who are challenged learn and communicate better. We at Intel dream of such a day when all challenged children in India will receive the same focus in education. We are proud to have made a beginning.

Under its education initiatives, Intel provides technology and training support to institutions such as the SOS Children's Villages of India, India Sponsor Foundation, Agastya Foundation, Special Olympics, and the Bangalore Central Prison. The Technology Training and Job centres for Special Children set up in Bangalore and Mandya focus on enhancing learning and creative abilities among Special Children besides training them on job skills.

As part of Intel motivated initiatives, a former Intel Master Trainer, Lalitha Bilgi runs Swayam , a Parent Support Group based in Bangalore. It is an education outfit that works towards educating and empowering children with special abilities. Swayam is engaged in a slew of activities with an aim to make learning fun for special children. Here, they are trained to perform their chores independently. The teachers and parents try to make them communicate through paintings, drawings, songs and most importantly with computer applications.