A Khulna school that helps differently-abled kids bloom

The students of the "Government Visual, Hearing and Speech Impaired School and Physically Handicapped Training (PHT) Centre" in Khulna excel in extracurricular activities aside from general education despite that the school suffers from multiple shortcomings. 

Most of the visually impaired students are good at singing and reciting poetry while hearing-impaired students are good at drawing, even though the school has had no art teacher since 1998.

The school at Goalkhali, which was set up in 1962 for children with visual, hearing and speech impairments, is running with precarious school buildings, accommodation problems, poor curriculum and an inadequate number of teachers.

Currently, the school has 123 visual and hearing-impaired students, most of whom come from poor families. Among them, 108 are resident students and 15 are non-residents.

Against 44 posts of teachers and other officials, the manpower of the school now comprises 19 people, seven of whom are teachers.

Till two years ago, the school did not have lavatory facilities for students.

In 2021, WaterAid, in collaboration with its partner Nabolok, built a new Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) block and installed drinking water facilities for the institution's hearing and speech-impaired children, in accordance with international standards.

Every toilet and hand-washing station is built with Braille signs, which helps the blind and partially sighted children to use the facilities by touch sensation. Red and yellow colours have been used to create smooth movement while using the toilet as students who are visually impaired can recognise deep colours.

But the three-storey school building is dilapidated with many of its parts having collapsed, and beams and plastering wearing off. Classes have been cancelled on the third floor as the condition there is more fragile. 

Now classes are being conducted in two shifts on the second floor and the ground floor due to the paucity of classrooms.

In 2018, the Public Works Department (PWD) declared the school building and hostels for male students risky.

The authorities demolished three dilapidated buildings used for accommodating male resident students and built temporary sheds to accommodate them. But there was no toilet in these sheds. Students used to go to the mosque to use the toilet or to the adjacent forest to relieve themselves. It was difficult for them to do that, especially at night. 

Nargis Akter, a supervisor who has been serving this school for 31 years, told The Business Standard (TBS) that once a student was bitten by a snake while going to the forest at night. Later he was admitted to the hospital and recovered. Now, thanks to WaterAid, children can use the toilet in the shed. 

Male students can study up to class five in this school in Khulna. Then they are sent for higher secondary education to another special school in Mirpur, Dhaka. But female students can study in school till class eight and stay in the hostel till intermediate. 

These children have to take part in public examinations along with general students. 

A teacher of the school, who did not wish to be named, told TBS, "We teach deaf and dumb students through sign language. But the problem is that there are not many words in the sign language books, and not all sentences can be understood by signs."

"The books they have are only useful for the pre-primary level. Since there is no separate book on sign language, it is very difficult for us to explain things to them. It is very difficult to make them pass the exam along with general students," the teacher said, adding that there is no problem for the visually impaired students because they have braille, and multimedia talking books.

There are 10 other schools in the country for speech, hearing and visual-impaired children which are being managed by the Ministry of Social Welfare. In these schools, speech and hearing-impaired students are taught general education along with sign language and Braille.

Six students got prizes from PMO

The students of the Khulna school are doing well in various extracurricular activities.

In 2021, a hearing-impaired girl Rimi received an award of Tk1 lakh from the Prime Minister for drawing. So far, six students of this school have been awarded by the Prime Minister for drawing beautiful pictures.

Syed Shaikh Sajjad, head teacher of the school, said, "Every year the Prime Minister's Office sends a letter asking for the drawings of the students. Then we send the pictures. Our students do well despite the limitations. Many of our students have later studied at Dhaka University."

Regarding the dilapidated school building, the head teacher said, "We have informed the Department of Social Services several times in writing about the new building. We were repeatedly assured that there would be new buildings. But I can't say exactly when it will happen. The teachers and students are continuing the education programmes at risk to their physical well-being."

When asked, Khan Motahar Hossain, Deputy Director of the Khulna district Social Welfare Department, told TBS that the feasibility study for reconstructing the school building has been completed and construction work will start as soon as the project is approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec).