1. Sankalp Special School, Kanpur 2014-2015 renewal

2. Background Caters to children with special needs (autism, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, speech/language issues, mentally challenged) Project’s goal is to nurture these kids with targeted attention and therapy so eventually they become self-sufficient – Individual progress plans for each child, 5-7 children per teacher, Physio/Speech/Behavioral therapy Supported by Asha-SV since Fall 2009 – Asha Stars project: Like any other Asha-SV project except the funds sent are only those that have been directly donated to the project. – 80G income tax registration in India but no FCRA yet – Asha Kanpur oversees the project (funds sent to Asha Kanpur, they do the disbursals and monitor funds utilization); they also try to raise funds locally

3. Current statistics Students - 48 Staff - 7 teachers for classes - 1 craft and dance teacher - 1 computer trainer (part time) - 1 speech therapist (visiting 6 days a week) - 1 psychologist (visiting 6 days a week) - 2 physiotherapists (visiting 6 days a week) - 1 coordinator - 2 aya and 1 male attendant 1 hired van and 1 school van for transport of children.

4. Highlights of 2013-14

5. Registration from NATIONAL TRUST for the welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mentally Challenged and Multiple Disabilities. This is a body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India which sees to the welfare of children with above mentioned problems. This registration means our organization will feature in national directory of NGOs working for children with developmental delays. This also means we can apply for grants from government under various projects after fulfilling the required specifications.

6. Systemization of functioning Till now, our functioning was largely determined by the needs faced at any given time and mutual understanding among the staff members. It was realized that if we wanted to expand our areas of functioning, a concrete system was needed. The duties of the staff, the functioning of the school, the basic policies of school etc are now all on paper so that every teacher/staff clearly knows their responsibilities and responsibilities of others too. This will be helpful at times of any new person joining in as staff, any conflict arising among the staff and taking decisions in absence of the centre head (which would be a frequent occurrence if the work amount has to be increased).

7. Reformatting the assessment forms It was our experience that the standard assessment forms that are generally used were too complicated and confusing and had no space for working according to the specific requirements of any child. To overcome this problem, we redesigned the assessment sheets (personal details, physiotherapy assessment, speech assessment, psychological assessment and performance level assessment) according to our needs. The new format is simple to fill, easier to understand and socioemotional aspects of the child are also taken into account. In place of simple yes/no, we have used grading system to document the status of the child.

8. Making IEPs for students Till now, assessing the child, making an education plan for him/her and monitoring the progress of every child was done by the psychologist. From now onwards, making the individualized education plan (IEP) and monitoring the progress is the responsibility of the class teacher. For this, they are provided a checklist in Hindi. This is certainly an achievement that the teachers have gained skills up to a level where they can do the assessment and IEP formulating independently. This will be helpful because now the teacher will solely be answerable for the progress of students in her class so they will work harder. Also, the psychologist is now free to give concentration or other required therapies to the children on one to one basis.

9. Vocational training centre We finally started our VTC on 23 rd August 2014 at a small rented place. Since last many years, we were trying to get a sufficiently large place for our VTC allotted to us from Kanpur Nagar Nigam but all the efforts were wasted. Even a rented place was not available as people always shrunk at the name of mentally challenged children. So we grabbed the offer of the first person who said yes for the project even though, the available space was very small.

10. Our current curriculum at VTC 1.Basic kitchen work (which includes cutting and sorting vegetables, making sandwiches, bhelpuri, maggi, tea, coffee etc., preparing and packing mathri, washing utensils, serving tea and snacks etc. 2.Very basic gardening 3.Basic computer typing 4. Artificial jewelry making 5.Basic electronic work (making switch boards and its repairing) 6.Basic stitching (so that they can at least mend their clothes) 7.Academic work ( out of total 7 children there, 3 are appearing for B level exam and 3 for A level exam of NIOS). 8. Games and art and craft activities.

11. Other special events 6 of our students gave the “A” level examination (equivalent to class 2) conducted by NIOS (national institute for open schooling). It was a pleasure to know that all the 6 students cleared the exam with good marks. Another special event was a 20 days interaction and study program in which about 40 IIT Kanpur students came and interacted with our children, closely observed their limitations and special needs with an aim to develop assistive devices which can improve the functioning level of these children. This program was arranged by “Svagatagami”, a NGO run by an ex-IITian Shivam Rastogi. Another major even in November was beginning of our “one to one session” facility for the children having special needs but who are going in the normal schools.

12. Greatly satisfied by the results, the Rotary people happily agreed to give the sponsorship for teaching the girls at the Government Destitute Home for girls. We were given the privilege to host the regional parents meet of PARIVAAR-NCPO in Unnao on 8 th and 9 th March 2014. The teachers and students of school participated in the interschool games “Ability Unlimited” hosted by Rotary Club on 9 th March 2014 along with 7 other special schools and our students performed very well and won many medals. We also participated in the district level sports event held by UP Chapter of Special Olympics, India on 21 st March 2014. One of our students has been selected for participating in the national level games in powerlifting. The TATA Magic van donated to us by the LIC was finally flagged off on 25 th March 2014 after a small ceremony.

13. Annual Day Celebration Our annual day was celebrated on 29 th March 2014. Like previous years, this event was held at Bang Bhavan. This program was different from all our previous programs since we decided not to have any chief guest for the function as it was being observed that this caused unnecessary expenditure of time and money power without any obvious benefit to the school. After talking to parents on many occasions, we found out that the parents as well as the students and staff wanted enjoyment and recreation more than anything else so we also did not have any talks in between the programs this time.

14. Special concern Because we were having only one child for the Day Boarding since past two years, we decided to finally close down the day boarding facility at Sankalp. Since the name “Sankalp Day Care Centre” now will be a misnomer, we are planning to rename our centres as “Sankalp Special School” and “Sankalp Vocational Training Centre”.

15. Public Awareness We have recently created a page by the name of “Sankalp” on facebook where we are posting information and facts related to developmental disabilities with the aim of reaching out to more and more people. (any suggestions regarding better use of social media for creating awareness, creating a market for the things that are being made by the children etc. are most welcome) We have formed a parents’ association by the name of Wonder Child Parents’ Association to create awareness among the parents and to give them a platform where they can express themselves and motivate each other for a better tomorrow. This WCPA is separately registered and separately managed so that we can reach out to parents of children studying in other special schools too but largely, it is running by the efforts of Sankalp team only.

16. Book campaign Book campaign with K Hari Kumar for 'When Strangers meet..’ – He is a contemporary Indian novelist, born in Cochin and brought up in the suburbs of Gurgaon. His first book 'When Strangers meet..', an urban fiction, was published by Srishti Publishers in May 2013. The book that talked about generation gap was accepted with warmth by the youth of India. – He's also an international award nominated Photographer and independent filmmaker who has worked in over twenty television commercials, directed 8 short films and three documentaries (one for an international artist). – He is a first generation agricultural entrepreneur and is the owner of an upcoming chilli farm in Kerala. – Often known as 'The Stranger', his second short film 'The Man who loved me' was a commercial suspense thriller on homosexuality. The film was selected at the IFF 2011, Melbourne. His debut novel 'When Strangers meet..' is an adaptation of his first short film 'My name is Iyer'. The book has already sold out it's first edition within one month of it's release and has been featured in many prestigious Indian channels of print media. His Malayalam short film 'Sandarsakan' has been considered for the 2014 Bath film festival. Good publicity, esp. in sensitizing youth towards the cause – K.Hari somehow came in contact with Supreet, sister of one of our students. – They planned a book campaign at various schools and coaching centers (where young adults could be reached) and promised to donate the fund generated to Sankalp. – Since this concept was new for Supreet, for Kanpur and for us, we could arrange for only 8-9 presentations and their sales was not much. Plus the book was priced for just 100/- so we got 5000/- only from all this but we got a good publicity and, as they had put our name on their banner, they spoke about special kids also thereby sensitizing the youth for the cause.

17. Financials

18. Budget for 2014-2015 MONTHLY BUDGET FOR THE YEAR APRIL 2014 TO MARCH 2015 ESTIMATED EXPENSES- RENT FOR THE PREMISES- Rs. 10,000/- + Rs. 5,000/- (for the VTC premises) CONVEYANCE EXPENSES- Rs. 27,500/- (18,500/- for van, 5000/- for one driver for the school van and 4000/- for CNG) SALARY- TEACHERS (7) - Rs. 19,700/- COMPUTER TEACHER - Rs. 2200/- CRAFT TEACHER- Rs. 2800/- COORDINATOR - Rs. 2800/- AYA (2) + (1 for VTC) - Rs. 5000/- + Rs. 1500/- SWEEPER - Rs. 4000/- PSYCHOLOGIST- Rs. 4500/- PHYSIOTHERAPISTS- Rs. 10,000/- SPEECH THERAPIST- Rs. 4500/- MISCELLANEOUS- Rs. 5000/- TOTAL MONTHLY EXPENSES Rs. 98,000/- + Rs. 6500/- RECIEPT FROM CHILDREN (FEES +CONVEYANCE)- Rs. 45,350/- ESTIMATED PRIVATE DONATIONS- Rs. 15,000/- TOTAL RECIEPT- Rs. 60,350/- NET DEFICIT- Rs. 44,150/- per month (which comes to Rs. 5,29,800/- for 12 months.)

19. Expenses in 2013-2014  Total expenses incurred during 1 st April, 2013 to 31 st March,2014 - (1) Salary : 7,33,050/- (2) Conveyances : 3,72,000/- (3) Rent : 1,48,000/- (4) Celebrations and functions : 18,957/- (5) Repair and maintenance : 16,548/- (6) Stationary and craft : 10,049/- (7) Miscellaneous : 7,419/- (8) Website maintenance : 8,989/- (9) Inverter : 9,400/- Total expenditure : 13,24,412/-  Total amount rcvd from children (fees & conveyance)- Rs. 5,23,150/-  Donation from personal resources - Rs. 3,15,300/-  Difference: Rs. 4,85,962/- Asha-SV approved Rs.5.73L for full year, we sent 5.73L ($9,341.83)

20. Budget for 2013-2014 MONTHLY BUDGET FOR THE YEAR APRIL 2013 TO MARCH 2014 ESTIMATED EXPENSES- RENT FOR THE PREMISES- Rs. 10,000/- CONVEYANCE EXPENSES- Rs. 30,500/- (18,500/- for van, 7000/- for one autorickshaw & 5000/- for another autorickshaw) SALARY- TEACHERS (7) - Rs. 18,400/- COMPUTER TEACHER - Rs. 2000/- CRAFT TEACHER- Rs. 2500/- COORDINATOR - Rs. 2000/- AYA (2) - Rs. 4000/- SWEEPER - Rs. 2800/- PSYCHOLOGIST- Rs. 4000/- PHYSIOTHERAPIST- Rs. 7000/- OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST - Rs. 12000/- SPEECH THERAPIST- Rs. 2000/- SPEECH ASSISTANT- Rs. 2500/- MISCELLANEOUS- Rs. 1500/- TOTAL MONTHLY EXPENSES Rs. 1,01,200/- RECIEPT FROM CHILDREN (FEES +CONVEYANCE)- Rs. 40,450/- FIXED PRIVATE DONATIONS- Rs. 13,000/- TOTAL RECIEPT- Rs.53,450/- NET DEFICIT- Rs. 47,750/- per month (which comes to Rs. 5,73,000/- for 12 months.)

21. Student Progress Samples 1. XXXXX YYYYY - XXXXX was admitted to Sankalp in October, 2008. At that time, she could not stand without support, could not swallow solids, did not respond to any usual auditory or visual stimulus and was not even aware of her basic needs. She had moderate to severe mental retardation with motor deficiency and epilepsy so her progress was very slow. Now, we are very happy to see XXXXX walking on her own (though still a little unstable) and roaming here and there and exploring things. She has started following simple verbal commands and is now aware of her basic needs as well as likes and dislikes. Though we can not claim it to be an achievement, it is a big relief for the parents when she asks for water or food or calls for help when needed. She says 'kh...' for food, 'p...' for water, 'ammaaaa' when she wants to call her mother or grandmother and so on.....

22. Student Progress Samples 2. XXXXX YYYYY- XXXXX is one of our oldest students. She was admitted to Sankalp in February 2007. At that time, she could not speak anything, could not nicely comprehend what was going on around her and had severe stranger anxiety. Now, XXXXX is our dancing star and we have her in lead role in more than one programs in our annual day function. She is fond of dressing up and chooses and manages her dresses on her own. She has meticulous mannerisms and is very affectionate. When her class teacher goes out of class, she controls other children very nicely, affectionate and stern wherever needed. She can write numbers up to 50, can write her name, address, phone number and can draw and color nicely. She is also good at cutting shapes from paper and sticking them neatly wherever she is told to. She can also handle computer and can put on songs or games when she wants.

23. Student Progress Samples 3. XXXXX- XXXXX was admitted to Sankalp in april 2012 at 10yrs age. At that time, the parents told that XXXXX was very much interested in studying and used to sit with books and copies at home. They tried to send him to a small normal school but he could not adjust there. Since XXXXX’s mother is working, he used to be at home alone for quite some time and his not being aware of his safety was the biggest concern for the parents. Now, XXXXX’s most of the time is spent at school when his mother is out for work. Also, he has learnt to interpret picture books by looking at the pictures, can draw simple figures and color them, is aware of his safety, has become much more responsible and can iron and fold clothes nicely. He can recognize rupee notes and keeps them with care. He can make simple money transactions like that of 5rs or 10rs value.

24. Student Progress Samples 4. XXXXX YYYYY - XXXXX was admitted to Sankalp on 14th feb, 2014 and his age is 26yrs at present. at the time of admission, the main complains of parents was his lack of understanding and memory, lack of initiative, lack of motivation and self-direction along with being restlessness. He used to give blank looks whenever anyone tried to talk to him and his gaze was never focused. after two months of working with him, he now seems satisfied and stable, tries to do the given tasks and asks if there is anything which he can't do. his confidence level has improved very much and his eye contact is also much much better. we hope for a rapid improvement in XXXXX since he is not severely compromised physically. his main problem was that he had never been to school and was never groomed in desired way.