inaugural program of the Amara Soundarya Vocational Training center for the Differently Abled.

Sometimes, it so happens that the most beautiful things in life, emerge from the biggest losses. That feeling when we wake up every morning, the urge to do more than we thought we could, the everlasting inspiration to live up to lofty ideals set by those who left us and the constant efforts to keep their name alive. That, is the beauty that emerged from the loss that shook our lives
Before I go any further, I would like to thank you all for being here with us and for so graciously accepting to be a part of something much larger than ourselves. For being a part of something that aspires to change the lives of those who deserve the best.  I welcome you all once again to this inaugural program of the Amara Soundarya Vocational Training center for the Differently Abled.
Amara Soundarya Foundation was born 13 years ago, literally from the ashes of Amarnath and Soundarya. It was, in a sense, a way of keeping that loss from really being a loss, a way of keeping their names alive by continuing to give all we can to the society that loved them so much. This was our inspiration then, it is our inspiration now and will continue to be so for many, many years to come.
We have however grown a lot since then, and even though our inspiration has remained constant, the way we’ve tried to give back to society has seen a lot of change. We started as a school that hoped to revolutionize education, not by looking to the future, but by looking to the past. We really believe that old is indeed gold. It was a school that drew inspiration from the schools of an age gone by. Schools which not only taught you subjects that made you employable, but taught you the little secrets of life that made it so much more worth living. Simple secrets. Respecting your elders, loving those around you, showing respect, empathy and compassion. Secrets that we know, but only choose to ignore because we were constantly told that math is more important. The only place to find schools that really taught you these secrets, was in the past. The Gurukuls. Schools that created many of our heroes from the epics. That was the kind of school we hoped to be. From the very beginning we inculcated the core morals of life in the children. The first interaction our students had with the school was an ‘Aksharabhyasa’, a symbolic representation that marks the beginning of one’s education. It doesn’t end there, at every step of the child’s education we try to bring back what is lost, for instance, the connection you have with your family. We did this by involving the parents in as many activities as possible, conducting events like grandparent’s day, all of which show the child how much better life can be when you’re surrounded by family. We also celebrated every festival in the grandest way possible, all with a view to reunite the child with a rich past that has unfortunately been forgotten.

We don’t usually give enough credit to seemingly inconsequential decisions that ultimately change the course of our life. One such decision did change the course of the school and we believe that now is the time to give it the credit it deserves. A visually challenged student was seeking admission and admitting him was a big deal for us. We faced so many new challenges and also learnt a lot, but the most important thing we learnt was that there are a lot of children whose education needs are far different from what you normally see. This made us think. Our very purpose of undertaking this journey was to give back to society, and without even knowing, we were neglecting a large part of it. With this, we started admitting children with special needs such as autism and Down syndrome. This was a very rewarding experience.  A particularly good thing we noticed was how quickly the other children befriended the special children. Usually, we grow up not coming in contact with many such children, but the kids at our school were with them from an early age, and this would definitely play a role in molding their perception of individuals with special needs. But more importantly, this started a new chapter of our school. The age of inclusion.
Despite all the rewards of an inclusive school, we came to learn over the years that children with special needs, need more attention and hence, dividing attention between the two groups might leave the special children at a loss and we quite simply couldn’t have that. With this, we found ourselves at a crossroads. Do we continue to be exclusive for the special children or do we go back to where we started? We choose the former and the reasoning was simple. There are plenty of schools that cater to the needs of normal children and by staying in that pond, neither do we grow, nor do we help others grow. With that, we transformed into an exclusive special school. With all the new found clarity, we also started to expand our activities to therapies. Instead of having to go to a plethora of places for a plethora of therapies, our students can find them all under one roof. Like this, all our focus turned to special education. A big boost in this venture has come in the form of accreditation from the National Institute of Open Schooling, which allows us to tailor the syllabus to the needs of the students and attend exams according to their convenience.
We also strived to keep our activities as wide as possible. That is, we concentrated not only within the boundaries of our 4 walls, but also looked to see what we can do for those who are not a part of our school. In this regard, we started dedicating each year’s Smarananjali, our annual day celebrations, to a cause we felt needed attention. One year, we conducted what we called the Mahabharata mela, a festival where several schools joined us and presented skits on the many anecdotes of the Mahabharata. Another year we conducted Antharmukha. A program to raise awareness regarding child abuse and how to prevent it. We also conducted a walkathon to teach people the importance of inclusion of individuals with special needs. Like this, we tried to diversify our efforts by taking about things like the environment, patriotism and many more.
However, the biggest activity we conducted outside the school was for woman empowerment.  Seeing as to how vulnerable woman might be and in many cases, how dependent they are on other members of their family, we decided to start providing vocational training for them. With the help of the Karnataka Vocational Training and Skill Development Centre, we conducted training for these women in several places throughout Karnataka.

PTO
A culmination of all these activities leave us where we are today. A special school with experience in vocational training and an urge to do something for these kids. This very statement gave us an idea. For many years we’ve known that despite all the education we provide, children with special needs largely remain dependent on their families. And we ultimately decided that this is what we want to change. How? Simply by giving them skills that they could use to become socially and economically Independent. Due to inherent disadvantages, we have to face the fact that it is harder for special children to find conventional jobs, so we have to focus on skills with which they can earn for themselves, without having to work for someone else. Another thing we knew is that special children can be found in every part of the state and not just in Bangalore. Providing all these facilities to only urban children would be very unfair and so, we decided that using the structure built up during our vocational training days, we can expand the services statewide. However, even these structures being limited to only a handful of other areas, we do need your support to further widen them. So with that, we make a humble appeal. Do join us. Help us make the lives of these children more independent. Anyone, from any corner of the state can approach us with the desire to open a training center in their village or town and we will set it up for them, in terms of syllabus and technical assistance. All we need from you, is to approach us with the willingness and desire to improve the lives of these children. Together, and only together we can make this happen. Thank you.