Integrating Able and Differently-abled Children In Rural Assam

Society for Health & Educational Development (SHED) in Sonapur, Assam has one solution to two problems:

• Underprivileged children in this area have no access to a good education. These include tribal children, girls in the age-group 5-18, children with physical and mental disabilities, children who have faced domestic or other violence, and orphans
• Differently-abled children are not integrated into mainstream society which causes them to suffer economically and otherwise later in life

SHED solves these problems with the unique idea of providing residential hostel facilities to orphans and other children in crisis within the facilities of a school for differently-abled children. This integrated school provides benefits to both groups of children:

• Enables strong interaction between both groups of children without requiring them to study in the same classroom
• Provides a great way for children in crisis to increase their own self-worth by being buddies to disabled children.
• The differently-abled children also build great friendships with people different from their own to increase their own confidence to integrate in mainstream society

The integrated school project started in February 2013 and supports 24 students. SHED is planning to add support for more children this year to make progress towards its vision.

For more information on SHED, please contact us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..