Hope in the Sands: Differently Abled Children Demonstrating Educational Excellence
Vicholo Par in Umerkot district is a very peculiar village. Of its 120 households, no fewer than 30 have children or adults with disabilities. Sometimes, a single household has two or three differently abled persons. Here, one can observe limbs that appear shortened, hands and feet with irregular shapes, or fingers that are absent. Strangely, despite it being a Hindu village, there is absolutely no inbreeding which is endemic among Muslims.
Although there is a school in the village, several differently abled children have been kept out of it. Bhoj Raj who does not know his age but seems to be about eight, suffers from a considerably shorter right leg with a poorly formed knee joint. He does not wear shoes and reaches school in about 20 minutes[1] by hopping on his good leg. When the hot sand burns his foot, he goes by cartwheels. Until he joined in Grade 1 recently, he remained home helping his mother with housework and feeding the family’s livestock while his five healthy siblings all attended school.
He says he never thought he could be in school until his playmates told him of the new equipment the school[2] had received. There were swings and a seesaw in the grounds and in class they had colourful cards and charts with pictures and names of birds, animals, fruit, and Sindhi, English and Urdu alphabets.
Government Boys Primary School (GBPS) Vicholo Par is supported by Act for Peace through the “Improving Health and Education Services in Migration-Prone Union Councils of District Umerkot” project. Schools selected for this initiative must meet specific criteria, including being fully functional government schools with at least two classrooms and teachers. Community World Service Asia (CWSA) prioritises the enrollment of girls and the inclusion of vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities (PWDs). The project has enhanced this school by providing a multigrade teaching kit for educators, play-based kits for children to promote joyful learning, and teacher training under a positive learning program. Furthermore, the project has installed a swing to promote play-based education and supplied quarterly school materials to ensure a conducive learning environment.
As well as that, they were given materials to paint and draw. Learning had become so much fun since August 2024, they all told Bhoj Raj, that they did not want to leave school when time was up. Just months after he joined, the child wants to be a school teacher when he grows up. “I want to be a teacher so that after my duty in school, I go to every house with disabled children and give lessons free of charge,” he said.
Pato Bai, aged nine, is another student at the same school. She is the only disabled child among her four other siblings. Both her feet are shaped in a way that she walks on the outer sides rather than on the soles. As a child, walking had always been very difficult, but as she grew up, she learned to keep her balance with what nature had given her.
Pato’s mother says that though they live only 10 minutes’ walk away, she did not send her daughter to school because of her difficulty in walking. Also, the government teacher was rarely ever present[3] in school and children simply wasted their time. In her view, Pato was better off helping with chores around the house. She says that the new teacher, Raheem Das[4], being from the same village has been regular in attendance since he joined in March 2021 and the input from the idaro (organisation meaning CWSA) changed her mind. Seeing her daughter doing better than her other siblings, she is happy she changed her mind.
In August 2024, CWSA trained teacher Raheem Das deployed the Early Childhood Care and Education kit to make the classroom a fun place that Pato enrolled in. Her interest in learning is so great that even at home she had asked her siblings to tutor her and consequently was taken in Grade 3. She dreams of studying medicine so that she can prevent children being born with deformities like hers. And if there are any, her pledge to herself is that she will treat them free of charge.
When she does finish her degree, Pato will make a very artistic doctor because of her talent in painting and drawing. The school has several sheets of her artwork on display produced during a recent art competition in which Pato topped. Ever more commendable is the fact that the two students who topped in the games competition are both differently abled – Pato and Bhoj Raj[5].
[1] While other children cover the distance in five to 10 minutes.
[2] The total number of students enrolled is 95, consisting of 65 boys and 30 girls.
[3] The teacher was appointed from a distant village, faced health issues that hindered his regular attendance.
[4] The teacher has passed the government teaching test and has been teaching for four years. He is originally from the village itself.
[5] The teachers promote inclusive education by creating opportunities for all children, including girls, boys, and children with disabilities (PWDs). In remote areas lacking specialised institutions, the teacher works to support the inclusion of PWDs in school admissions and activities. Their efforts ensure equal participation for PWDs in sports, poster competitions, and other events, fostering a sense of belonging and enabling them to continue their education.
