Silent Learnings

Bharat Shetty is a guest blogger with Inclusive Planet and shares his experiences of how it was for him as a deaf child studying in an integrated school. Every parent of every disabled child has to at some point make this very difficult decision – the decision of choosing either a ‘special’ school or an integrated school for their child.

Read on to find out the exceptional support and care Bharat received at the Ursu Boarding School. This is what he has to say

I will narrate yet another experience of mine which proved to be one of the founding pillars during my integration with the mainstream society. Over to Ursu Boarding School located at Mysore, Karnataka, India. So it had come to a stage, where I had just finished the pre-school training for the hearing impaired in Rotary West institute for Mother and deaf child. Obviously admitting any child to its first ever normal school can be a terrifying experience for most of the parents and they would try to be careful to ensure seamless integration of the child to the schools. In my case, there was the added problem of the deafness leading to bit of a traumatic experience for my parents. If not for this school, we would have never imagined how the path would have shaped for me as years progressed.

Especially in the case of disabled and more prominently that of the hearing impaired, the first school they get admitted to is of phenomenal importance, for it is here where they get some confidence to face first instances of their integration with the hearing peers and mainstream society. So how did this school help me ? A day came when I stepped into that office of the school adorned with portraits of erstwhile Maharajas and important people from previous lineage of the school along with my parents. For the first time I saw a person who was going to be my first prominent teacher after my mother. It was none other than Vishalakshamma, the current headmistress of the school, to whom me and my parents owe a great deal of gratitude. She greeted us with her dignified smile and assured my mom that everything is going to be fine and I will get the best of support from all the teachers. Next I remember being introduced to unforgettable teachers like Pushpa, Prabha, Shobha, Saraswathi, Sumathi etc. This was the same school where I was to pick up my best friend Sudhanva and whose mom became a fierce and close family friend with us. I’ll also never forget the awesome friends circle I was fortunate to have known like Abhilash, Chandrashekar etc.

Couple of anecdotes come to my mind from my primary school days here. The first was when there was a class. I had messed up in some handwriting or forgot to complete the homework I guess. Vishalakshamma had just rolled into the class and had been complained by the teacher that almost entire class hadn’t done the homework. She had a cane in her hand. And she started giving one tight lash on hand for everybody. I was thinking may be I’m hearing impaired, so she will spare me. But she came to me; looked my eyes sternly, gave me one good tight lash on my palm. Tears swelled up in eyes. Later I realized how it meant for me to get that tight lash with everyone else. Probably that was the first instance I felt I had been truly integrated and considered among all others in the class. I will never forget that cane punishment she gave me and the love, sense of discipline she oozed into everyone of us. She just wanted her wards to be disciplined in life and get along doing work without fail. In her simple words, it was “You just do it, else you get the cane.” This also applies to life. First major lesson for us.

Another instance was when one day Pushpa madam called me to her 8th class. I went without understanding what would befall on me. Once entering the class. I was told to write on the board in chronological order – the names of all the presidents who had ruled India. And I wrote sheepishly with a grin on the board for I was a tiny self back then. Once I completed it, she said, now Bharat, go and hold the nose and give some small slap to everyone assembled here. I was horrified and started crying and said, maam I can’t do that. And still I had to do it. If any of those seniors who remember this, my apologies for that. But I guess these novel methods of punishments were instilled and unique to Ursu boarding school, so as to instill some sense of commitment in learning the basics, discipline and other important things in life deeply in our memories. We all should be thankful to this school for such memories. As for me, it gave me phenomenal amount of confidence that somebody respects my hard work and knowledge acquirement process.

Coming to the exams, my progress was fairly satisfying in main streams like Science, Maths and Social science thanks to the individual care shown by all the teachers. The teachers even interacted daily with my mother and even visited the pre-school for training in teaching hearing impaired children. I don’t think most schools in India will show this kind of commitment and passion to integrate everyone into primary schooling system. I still strongly recommend this school to parents concerned with admitting their wards to this school for the unique affordable experience it provides. I was also exposed to people from rural villages, and poor backgrounds. Everyone were treated equally without any bias in classrooms. I could not have asked for more richer experience anywhere else.

Coming to dramatics, extracurricular activities etc, the school always ensured that I get to participate with others despite my poor speech clarity. I was given subtle but important roles in the dramas for annual school days. Soon time had come for me to move to a English medium school. During my first annual day in the school, me and my parents will never forget how the school chose to bestow the best student award on me normally reserved to 10 public exam toppers. For me it meant a justification of my parents hard efforts and I remember my mother crying that day. The confidence this school gave to both me and my parents was terrific and we would never forget Vishalakshamma for this. Even when I went through various stages later in my secondary school stage and eventually entered Engineering at SJCE, Vishalakshamma, Pushpa and Shobha kept in touch with my parents actively and promoted the inclusion of hearing impaired children to the school. Thanks to this school lots of hearing impaired students get a stable and solid platform where they muster the confidence to move on to more stringent achievements in their arduous journey towards enlightenment.

In nutshell, there is always going to be someone who will be willing to guide you during your hard struggles. So if you are a parent or caretaker of a disabled child or you know someone who has a disabled child, ensure that the school they are admitted to takes immense individual care to promote and foster all-round development of the child thereby helping its smooth integration into the mainstream society for this is where the genesis to enlightenment begins.

We at inclusive planet, wish all of you readers a merry Christmas and a warm happy new year and happy holidays

Bharat Shetty