ANNUAL REPORT

Annual Report 2023-24

Amidst conflict, wars and sufferings in our bordering countries and state, we are very grateful to report that we can enjoy normal life in Mizoram that enable us to run the office of Spastic Society of Mizoram and its run Gilead Special School smoothly throughout the academic year 2023-2024.

School: The School was reopened on 5^th April 2023 as per School calendar of Education Department, Govt. of Mizoram. As had always been in the previous years, the reopening day was very hectic and challenging for the teachers and staff, they were really busy and engaged to pacify crying new comers as well as cooling down the old students who were over excited to see the School and teachers after a long break of one month, i.e. March.

            This year also we have a good number of students of different types of disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy, Intellectual Disability, Hearing and Speech Disability, Multiple Disability, Autism Spectrum Disorder and others. As such is the case, we increased staff strength to be able to give individual care as well as effective class teachings.

            We would also like to report that one of our stand out achievement in this reporting period is that inspite of our limited space and facilities, we could increase the number of ASD students in the School. We often wonder why Autism Spectrum Disorder population suddenly increased recently. Knowing that they are a group of people with disability, so unique and teachable, who needs care and education the most. So we enrolled almost all applicants to our fullest limit, hoping that they will benefit our care and service in the School.

            Besides providing general and special education in the School, we equipped ourselves with essential services in the special school, such as Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech and Audiology. The students avail these services according to their needs.

            Spastic Society of Mizoram also runs a hostel for its students who come from far off villages and those of low economic status. The hostel has been running for almost 20 years with 30 bedded capacity. Here both male and female students are accommodated with separate rooms, and toilets. It is run under the guidance of a very capable warden and four other staff consisting of males and females who efficiently look after the inmates. The hostel has been running from sponsorships from few well-wishers besides solely depending on the fund provided by the Organization. With few financial resources the beneficiary often times cannot be provided with proper beddings and furniture and has been relying on the same for many years. Diet has been good but would have been much better if fund could be availed from the Ministry.

            Academic classes are provided to those who are educable, and those trainable are trained in our Vocational Training Centre where they are taught to sew or make paper plates according to their ability. The finished products are sold in local markets, and different congregations according to orders received. Although the income may not be much it helps in maintaining the procurement of raw materials needed. It has also been recruiting its past students who are capable and of higher intellect giving them honorarium every month. This in part boosts their morale and gives them dignity making them feel important and useful to their families and society.

The academic classes are imparted to those beneficiaries who are educable preparing them to appear later under NIOS. A few students have also passed their Xth class under this Schooling. The main objective of Gilead Special School is to provide services to its beneficiaries to help them live independent lives. Beneficiaries are provided such services and severity of disability ranges from mild to severe and provisions are made accordingly. In order for its smooth running more professionals are engaged all the while abiding by the guidelines laid out by the DDRS Scheme. However, it may also be cited that due to the demands of parents and caregivers, the School has been enlisting more than the standard number students mentioned in the guidelines.

The Organization has also been a Registered Organization under National Trust and has been the one and only RO for many years. Beneficiaries are enrolled under the Niramaya Scheme as demanded by the National Trust. However, it may be mentioned that Aadhaar number being a mandatory has caused us problems in registering all our beneficiaries. The problem is such that Children with Cerebral Palsy often face difficulty when biometric photos are to be taken. This in turn hinders the process of registering them under the Niramaya Scheme. They are the most vulnerable and need physiotherapy to help them with their movement and other difficulties they often face. Families are subjected to spending a great amount of money for their child in Therapy, but would ease their burden had their child been able to acquire Aahdaar.

Being surrounded by turmoil and unrest in bordering areas, many refugees have been entering the State of Mizoram. Among them there are children with disabilities and as per the Government order those refugee children seeking attendance in schools whether mainstream or special schools have to be accommodated, and as such Gilead Special School has also been accommodating them as far as possible. This in turn, has caused some problems with the Organization being an NGO with no other income to sustain itself. And unlike other states, Mizoram is not an industrial state and seeking funding from CSR is also a big challenge for us. These refugee beneficiaries also do not possess necessary documents required of them.

Events and Programmes:

Important dates and events to be observed provided by the Ministry has also been given much importance and the days have been observed as far as possible.

• Autism Awareness Month was observed at Gilead Special School Hall with parents of ASD on 18^th April 2023. This event has also been observed for a while and has always been sponsored by one of the very prominent citizen who are parents of an autistic child. We are really thankful to the family for their generous contribution. May God bless their beloved son, and the whole family.
• International Day of the Deaf: on 22^nd September 2023, we observed International Day of the Deaf where his Excellency, the Governor of Mizoram, Mr. Hari Babu Kamrampati graced the function as Chief Guest. The students of Gilead Special performed songs and poetries to welcome and entertain Mr & Mrs Kamrampati.
• World Cerebral Palsy Day: We observed this particular day on 6^th October 2023 at the School. The Director, Social Welfare & Tribal Affairs, Govt. of Mizoram, graced the function as Chief Guest. The day was spent with performances of songs and skits by Children with Cerebral Palsy. We thank the Director for sparing her valuable time with us and we appreciate what she and her Department had been doing for the upliftment of people with disability of Mizoram.
• World Occupational Therapy Day: This Day was observed at Gilead Special School with the students and parents in attendance. The Occupational Therapist gave a speech on the Importance and necessity of Occupational Therapy for their children. The observance ended with a distribution of fulfilling refreshment to all.
• Handicapped Sunday: Every year the Presbyterian Church of India, Mizoram Synod has been allocating the third Sunday of June for persons with disabilities. This year as in other years invitation have been pouring in from local churches and we divided ourselves into four groups to have such programmes.
• Advent Christmas: The School community held Advent Christmas celebration at the School on 8^th December 2023. All participants were joyous, sing Christmas songs, dressed in Santa Claus costumes and some students presented Christmas themed dramas, solos, etc.
• Fund Raising Programme: Fund Raising programme is always our continuous activity since the start of the Society. This year we organized Food Court at Millenium Centre, which is located in the heart of the shopping and marketing centre of the City on 25^th & 26^th November 2023. People in Christmas mood came in large number, buying our vocational products and food items sold with generous hearts. Every one of us worked diligently to earn as much as possible for maintenance of Gilead Special School.
• Divya Kala Mela, Tripura: We participated at the Divya Kala Mela, held in Agartala, Tripura from 6^th-11^th February 2024, where we showcased our products like paper plates, aprons, bookmarks, utensil holders, doormats, pens. Most of our products are also made from wastes and reproduced as mentioned. Although it garnered a lot of interest from the community it was difficult to sell our products. We, however, felt that it was a great success from our part as we could showcase our items and products and feel proud to mention that our products were made by our PwDs. Also it was our first time showcasing them outside of the state. But, it is also sad to mention that though we were promised total reimbursement for our travels till we have not heard from the organizers and from the Ministry regarding. This make us think twice in attending any other Melas if we are not given what we are due.
• Inspection from the Ministry: After many years of non inspection, we were suddenly faced with an inspection from the monitoring team of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. Although we were quite surprised ourselves, our efficient staff at Gilead Special School were ready to face them with every queries and questions. We are glad and proud to have them and see our work and the efficiency of our staff. The monitoring team also was quite satisfied with their inspection. We also hope this will help us further in our GIA and strengthen our bond with the Ministry.

Annual Report 2025-26

When it comes to disability in Mizoram, Spastic Society of Mizoram has been the pioneers. To say we have championed the widespread awareness of disability within the state is not far from the truth.

The Organization has its Centre at Bawngkawn, Aizawl where we run a Special School named Gilead Special School, the first of its kind in Mizoram. Beneficiaries from 0-25 years are efficiently looked after by professionals like Trained Special Educators, Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapists, Speech Audiology & Language Pathologist and Clinical Psychologist, and a number of trained caregivers/attendants.

During the 2024-25 session, Gilead Special School has enrolled the following number of beneficiaries:

1. Cerebral Palsy – 27
2. Intellectual Disability – 62
3. Autism Spectrum Disorder – 35
4. Hearing Impairment/HSD – 11

Due to insurgencies arising in the neighboring state and country, we had to accommodate PwD refugees who seek admission at our Special School per the order of the State Government.

Besides Gilead Special School, the Organization has also set up other Units like Therapy & Counselling Centre, Skill Development and Training Centre, and a Hostel for beneficiaries. The hostel is equipped with skilled and reliable warden and four attendants.

The Centre has gained large popularity in the State and have had many visitors far and wide. Students of Graduate and Post graduate degrees come to the Centre for research and field studies. Not only that, Nursing students also make use of the Centre to complete their course study. Gilead Special School has a MoU with SCERT as study Centre for students enrolled in their Special Education courses. The same was for NILD. A MoU was also signed between Department of Education, Govt. Hrangbana College and Department of HSD, Gilead Special School, to promote sign language among youths. Throughout the year we have had volunteers from College students and Church Women, lending out their time servicing our beneficiaries and helping at the Skill Development & Training Centre.

The Skill Development & Training Centre has 20 trainees, and finished products are also sold. Trained beneficiaries are then recruited at the Centre as PWD workers. A local women’s NGO has been lending six (6) sewing machines to the Centre with no time bound. But it is sad to mention that our paper plate making machines have been giving us many problems and we have had to repair them every once in a while. Thus, causing production problems for orders received.

As much as the Organization is contributing for the smooth running of its many undertakings, it does not fall short of donations as well. We send our heartfelt gratitude to well-wishers from individuals, local private firms, churches, the CM Relief fund, political party and other NGOs who continuously give financial donations and in kind. Different persons and families sponsor our beneficiaries every year, and there were 20 sponsored beneficiaries in this session. It is because of these well-wishers and sponsors that our work is still going on.

During the year our beneficiaries were taught traditional dances by instructors provided by the Department of Art & Culture, Govt. of Mizoram. The Instructors were very eager and seeing that the children could catch up fast and enthusiastic, they were also very satisfied for the opportunity. They also assured us that even though they were detailed by the Department, they were willing to teach them so long as our beneficiaries needed and if they have time they would willing come to teach them free of cost.

The Department of Sports & Youth Services, Govt. of Mizoram also provided coaches for Athletics & Taekwondo to train our Special Athletes. They had year round training, the coaches gave us positive feedback. They expressed their enthusiasm and eagerness to train them more seeing the potential they have to compete at the International Level. They also provided us helpful information in this regard. The ability and potential they witnessed made them more enthusiastic believing that they had more chances than the mainstream athletes.

Like any other years, Special days like World Deaf Day, Autism Month, Cerebral Palsy Day, Occupational Therapy Day, Physiotherapy Day were observed and celebrated. Different prominent Government Officials and local area community were invited at the celebrations.

The School Bus which has been transporting the beneficiaries for ten years has had to face many repairing works. Due to this the Organization sought the help of the Government for a new bus. Through the Office of the District Commissioner, the IOCL approached and inspected the Centre through their CSR Project. An MoU was signed between the Organization and IOCL CSR Branch for 2 new buses. At the time of reporting, the process is going on.

Towards the end of the session, we had visitors from Global Disability Innovation and we had a very fruitful and meaningful meeting with them. Although they had initially come to meet with the Government Department, they came to our Centre and we discussed about corroborating in their research. We look forward to working with them, sharing our knowledge and expertise while also gaining more from them. The end result will eventually be for the PwDs of Mizoram.