Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Programme (SSA) Activities

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA is a national movement aims at ‘Education For All’ including the children with disabilities.  The SSA scheme warrants the coordinated efforts of both the regular teacher and the special educator to bring all children with disabilities under the umbrella of education.  Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya is the nodal agency for implementing the SSA programme in Coimbatore and The Nilgiris districts. In Coimbatore districts the scheme is implemented through 22 blocks, each block being manned by one special educator apart from the regular teachers. The 22 blocks are namely, Annur, Udumalpet, Madukkarai, Valparai, Perur, Pongalur, Thondamuthur, Pollachi North, Pollachi South, Sulur, Perianaickenpalayam, Madathukulam, Karamadai, Avinashi, Tirupuur, Kinathukadavu, Palladam,  Anaimalai, Sultanpet, S.S. Kulam, Gudimangalam and Coimbatore City. 

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Programme was implemented in the Nilgiris District from February 2005.  Four centres have been established in Nilgiris District in Kotagiri, Coonoor, Ooty and Gudalur.

Activities: Every year medical camps are being organized in Coimbatore and Nilgiris districts. The camps are conducted with assistance from ENT specialists, ophthalmologists, orthotists, psychiatrists, pediatricians and audiologists apart from the village administrative officers, tashildars and revenue inspectors. The children are provided medical certificates, identity cards, etc.  and special educators visit in-school children to find out the educational needs, aids and appliances required by them etc.

The Special educators and Block Resource teachers also conduct survey to identify the out of school children.

Distribution of Assistive Devices: The special educators visit children with disabilities individually and prepared a detailed assessment plan regarding the assistive devices required. Mostly disabled persons need Braille slates, Abacus, Taylor Frame, and Mobility Cane. Mostly visually impaired children (Low Vision) need magnifiers, Braille machines and large print materials, hearing impairment need hearing aids, orthopedically challenged children need tricycles, wheel chairs, calipers, special shoes, crutches and splints. As per the requirement of each child in the blocks, assistive devices are distributed in all the blocks of the district.

The notebooks prepared were sold to educational institutions in Tamil Nadu.  More than 90% of the persons working in this unit are disabled.  This unit has proved that disabled persons can work on par with normal persons and the quality of the notebooks is in no way inferior to those prepared by normal persons.  A summary of note books prepared and sold to various institutions in and around Coimbatore is given below: