Tahira, in her mid-twenties, lives in a jhuggi (hut) near Mumbra railway track in an extended suburb of Mumbai. Of her two children, one is mentally challenged and the other helps Tahira in carrying out domestic chores. She locks her mentally challenged son Anwar who is nine, in her 10 x 10 jhuggi as there is no one behind to take care of him. For Tahira, there is nothing to look forward to, except, to take life as it comes.
One day last year, she was approached by Prof. Asadullah Sayyid, to send her son to 'Gaaz school for Mentally Challenged', at Mumbra, managed by his trust 'A. Y. Sayyid Educational Memorial trust'. The day heralded a new turn in Tahira's life as she has noticed Anwar learning to read and write as well as learning to manage his affairs.
Prof. Asadullah Sayyid, a successful legal practitioner as well as a part-time teacher, takes time out of his work to make the life of mentally challenged children better. The Gaaz School for Mentally Challenged not only imparts literacy and numeracy to the kids but also inculcates among these hapless kids skills for survival.
“Special skills are taught to them to help them make good use of their time and lives. Each child is given a task that suits his or her mental growth. Sensory training and perceptual knowledge is stressed on and children are taught utilitarian tasks that will help them to be more independent. This is normally taught through drill and repetition over a period of years”, informs Prof. Sayyid.
During the course of his legal practice he came across quite a few parents who were agonized over the future of their mentally challenged kids. He counseled them that they should try to accept the fact that their child is mentally challenged and help him or her to grow to the full potential that he or she is capable of. “I observed that some parents keep looking for a miraculous cure and expend a lot of time and energy in quest of a divine elixir. Even though such an attitude is understandable, it does not show. I decided that I should do some thing for such parents and children and started with 'Gaaz school for Mentally Challenged'.
The School is turning out to be boon for the parents of mentally challenged Muslim children as it also supplements their Islamic knowledge. The unique contribution of 'Gaaz School for Mentally Challenged' lies in its arousing awareness amongst the parents of the mentally challenged children, about the importance of specialized training of theses kids. The staff at the Gaaz School go door to door conducting survey about the mentally challenged children and thereafter they are persuaded to send them to the Gaaz School.
The staff at the Gaaz School also coach and train parents and family members to provide a secure environment at home for the development of the abilities and interests of the mentally retarded. Prof. Asadullah Sayyid himself counsels parents on ways to make the lives of these kids comfortable by providing tips for their socialization at home with family members, friends and relatives. He believes that subnormal children need more love and affection than the normal children do, Otherwise they tend to get frustrated, as they might not be able to express their needs.
Gaaz School arranges special social activities for these children where they mixed with other children and learn the social skills. The priority for the Prof. Asadullah Sayyid is to provide trained and competent faculty as well as the best possible infrastructure. Conscious of the fact that the Gaaz School is the only Muslim managed school for mentally challenged children in Mumbai, he is personally involved in the day to day functioning of the school.
The ultimate objective of Gaaz School is not only that it helps the children to function independently with self confidence but also provides support to their parents. "We are striving to give appropriate training to the disabled children to enable them to live in the society like normal people. 'In future we would like to extend our service to bring more children under our care, to support and train them" said Prof. Asadullah Sayyid.
The A. Y. Sayyid Educational Memorial Trust which manages Gaaz School was established in 2002 by Prof. Sayyid. Besides this School, the Trust also provides help for marriages of eligible spinsters and burial of poor women in areas like Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane.
(The writer can be reached at mhl@rediffmail.com)