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Best School For Your Special Kids
Bethshan Special School was started in June 1996, especially for children with special needs. The word ‘Bethshan’ in Hebrew means ‘House of Security’. The school aims to serve special needs children such as those with intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, Learning Disabilities, Autism, ADHD, and congenital disorders. It also focuses on child-centered education, holistic development, training, employment and security of the children.
Legal Status
It’s a non-residential day special school duly registered U/s 52 of Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 by the state government of Tamil Nadu. It was established under The Evangelical Baptist Mission ( Trust ) in the year 1995 which is a registered Religious, Economical, Social and Educational Trust. Regn. No:2555 /95.
Need for starting this organization
Persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities need long term care and training to lead an independent life. In the Indian context, persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities are considered almost outcasts even by their families and close relatives. They are not even considered as human beings who are to be educated to some extent. Their parents also resort to all wrong methods which they believe would rectify their child’s mental retardation but these methods often prove futile. As a result their parents become frustrated. Society also gives rise to possible sexual harassment and inhuman torture. Society treats the children as a result of their parents’ sins. All these happen because the society and the people at large do not have adequate knowledge about mental disabilities. According to a sample survey taken by the Evangelical Baptist Church members during the year 1995
– 1996, 320 children were identified as mentally disabled in and around Madurai, which shows that the percentage of mental disability is higher than the other disabilities. When the founders took the survey they were shocked to find that the children who were mentally affected were discarded and not treated on par with other normal children. They also find an 18 year old boy who drank drainage water in the heart of the city while none of the public cared about him. So, the founders took it as a challenge and decided to start a special school for them, with the light of the word of God.
