MUMBAI: Maharashtra is now being seen as a pioneer in special education for physically challenged students. The Bihar and Orissa government have approached the state to replicate the model of the education and training centre in Navi Mumbai, which has specialized in training physically challenged students.
“The replication process has been initiated in Orissa,” said Vijay Nahata, director-general, information and public relations. Nahata, a state cadre Indian Administrative Service ( IAS) officer, was recently conferred the prime minister’s award for excellence in public administration. “The Bihar government wanted me to visit the state and explain the model, but I turned down the offer due to time constraints,” Nahata said.
The PM’s award was presented to Nahata for his project of starting the centre for the betterment of children with physical disabilities, during his tenure as Navi Mumbai civic chief.
“There were nearly 30 students when I started the project and the annual budgetary provision was Rs 10 lakh. Now, the centre has its own building and a budgetary provision of Rs 12 crore,” Nahata said. He added, “Teaching normal students needs patience. But teaching physically challenged students needs much more than that. We train parents too, so that it makes their job easy to handle the special children.”
The centre at Navi Mumbai pays parents who attend classes along with their children Rs 50 per day. –