A 'Special' School-Chitwan

When we arrived at the school we had no idea that we were going to be formally welcomed with a bunch of flowers from every child and a lei of flowers hang around our necks. We didnt have enough hands ! Overwhelming .

This is the special unit in the school . The name above the door "Mental Retardation Unit"
The children were all physical able bodied, intellectual impairments from what I could see in the 1 hour we were there and one older girl with athetoid CP . The Principal of the school informed us of how bright she was. She was mainstreamed for several subject whereas the other children stayed in the one classroom with very few resources. The have no curriculum for these students but thanks to Sita's friend who is their teachers he i working on life skills and social skills .There are just a handful of schools in Nepal that can accommodate children with disability. This school is therefore rather unique and progressive. children with physical disability who are unable to walk are significantly disadvantaged as if they can walk to school there are few other transport options and wheelchair are so impractical considering the roads, non existent footpaths and inaccessible schools.

Classroom. Children playing with plastic toys.

Most of these children board at the school which is a new governemnt initiative. This is the dorm.( below)

The cooking facilities are in the same room. Gas bottles and gas burners. High risk for children with intellectual impairment.

There is a stream that runs down the side of the school which is not fenced off. The end of the special unit can just be seen on the right hand side of this photo.

This is one of the main classrooms.

We were informed that the government have not been able to provide enough funds for decorating the special unit, housing the cooking area in a separate room , fencing the stream or draining and raising the play area which is frequently under water when the stream floods.

Costing for these projects is estimated to be around $1000 NZ