A door-to-door survey is on in three grama panchayats in the district to locate differently-abled children with a view to providing them with medical care, social support and inclusive learning opportunities. The survey is being conducted with the support of various local self-government institutions, Health Department and non-governmental organisations, to cover the selected wards of Changaroth, Kayakkodi and Kuttiyadi grama panchayats.
Nearly 100 trained volunteers are now part of the initiative which will mainly focus on children below the age of three. Project coordinators say all the participating volunteers have required skills to correctly distinguish such children and guide their parents to take appropriate measures. As per the official records of the Kerala State Social Security Mission, there are 78,548 differently-abled children in Kozhikode district. The pilot scheme aims at covering around 1,600 houses in the selected wards of these panchayats located in three Assembly constituencies, and preparing a list of the differently-abled kids. Instead of sending such children to special schools, parents will be encouraged to educate them in the mainstream.
P.C. Raveendran, chairman of the Standing Committee on Development in Kuttiyadi panchayat, who is one of the coordinators of the survey in his panchayat, says the project has big goals and it will be implemented in a phased manner with the support of expert doctors. Factors that lead to the birth of differently-abled children too will be a topic of serious study under the project, he adds.
The survey will be completed within a week to prepare the final list of beneficiaries. ‘Thanal’, a Vadakara-based Non-Governmental Organisation, is also part of the survey activities and the proposed special intervention programmes for the target group and their parents.