Coimbatore: Joy, enthusiasm and excitement was in the air as 22-year-old K Shiva, who has Down’s syndrome, performed thappattam (rural folk dance) at the annual day function of a special school conducted on Wednesday, the
World Down Syndrome Day. Shiva has more to offer. “I bake buns, biscuits, sweet biscuits and coconut buns that are very tasty. My parents love them,” he said with a wide smile.
Along with him there were nearly two dozen others, who performed and garnered claps and cheer from the audience. A Jayalakshmi, mother of a 20-year-old student with the genetic condition, said that there was still lack of awareness about it. “We did not know such schools existed. I got to know about autism and Down’s syndrome only recently. Had I known about such schools earlier, my son would have been more skilled by now. The government should create more awareness,” she said.
Headmistress of the Vidya Vikaash Opportunity School PV Jothi said, “We equip the children with various skills and the only focus is on taking them to mainstream schools.”
Started 37 years ago, the school currently has 116 students. “Under a state government project, 40 students were trained and four have joined mainstream schools in the city. Apart from children, we have an adult home for children above the age of 14, where they are taught vocational skills such as baking, dairy farming, making chalk piece, phenyl, soap powder, cover making and labelling books based on bar codes,” said the director of the school, TV Suresh.
But, experts were against making the children perform things they were not good at.
Kirthy C Nair, a PhD scholar from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences said, “Many children with Down’s syndrome had set up businesses and cafes in Mumbai. We need to hone their skills instead of trying to make them sing and dance even if they are not good at it. A blind girl once told me how she hated it as she knew she was not good at it,” she said.
