Lucknow Times- Times of India, Lucknow, Thursday, January 7, 1999, Page no.3

Slow learners find Ray of Hope

At last there is a ray of hope for 25 slow learners  of Lucknow who are being imparted training at Asmita, a non-government organisation, at Indira Nagar. Asmita has already imparted educational training to 50 slow learners of Lucknow who are now in different schools studying with normal children. According to Dr. Krishna Dutt, secretary of Asmita and a clinical psychologist at the King George’s Medical college, 125 children are on the waiting list for admission at Asmita, which is finding it difficult to admit them because of lack of resources and space constraints.

Slow learners are those category of children whose intellectual level lie between those of average and mentally handicapped children. They are also termed as mentally dull or mildly mentally retarded. They are borderline cases between the average and mentally retarded children. In Uttar Pradesh there was no other centre for the educational training of such children, and in India, only in New Delhi and Bangalore are few good institutes of mentally handicapped taking care of such children. Asmita is the first exclusive institute for the slow learners in India.

Asmita was started in 1989 at Indira nagar in a single room with five slow learners who came for evening classes at which the experimentation started. This process went on from 1989 to 1994 when a three-room flat in Sector 12 of Indira nagar was taken to impart training to this category of children.

A pilot survey by Asmita in collaboration with the department of social work, Lucknow University, indicated that roughly seven per cent of the children are slow learners. The identification of slow learners is done on the basis of intellectual assessment. The psychological tests are globally accepted. The parents may identify such children by noticing delay in the yearly development of sitting, standing, walking and so. Despite their hard work these children are not able to cope up with the normal children in studies.

The slow learners are not overburdened and they are given practical education. They are not taught on multi-model subjects.

The mentally retarded children are given self-help training skills for eating, dressing up, toilet training, dressing, eating and personal hygiene so that they can be independent in daily routine. The slow learners are given primary education.

At Asmita children from the lower middle, middle and upper middle brackets are being imparted educational training. For the students of the lower bracket no fees is charged. Not only this Asmita’s Tata Sumo picks them from their homes and drops them after their classes.

Sonu, 6, is a washerman’s son. His father had gone to a paedtritician who told him his son was mildly mentally retarded. The doctor referred him to Asmita in 1997 and in a span of one year he showed marked improvement.

Vivek and Sunil, 6 and 7 respectively, are from middle class background. The fathers of both these children are class III employees. When their parents found that they were not coping up well in classes they consulted a doctor who referred them to Asmita.

Siddharth, 8, son of a judicial magistrate is currently studying at Asmita. When his father found that he was not coping up well in studies he took his son to a doctor who referred him to Asmita.

The slow learners after completing their education at Asmita find access to schools where they study with normal children.

Ami Kumar Singh, 9, after receiving two years of intensive training was shifted to a normal school in Lucknow where he is coping up well in studies. 

Aishewairya, an 11-year-old girl after one-year training at Asmita was shifted to a normal school.

Asmita is facing financial constraints. The total contribution of Rs 200 from each parents of slow learners is consumed only in conveyance expenses while the interest of the fixed deposit of Rs 30.00 from life members of Asmita is not even worth for recurring expenses. Several applications were sent to the state and Central government for funds but it failed to yield any results.

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