Even a weak sapling can grow into a lush green plant with love and care
From my 2 years of journey with Shri Unchidhnal Primary School as an Education Coordinator, I vividly remember this little girl named Kavyaben Vinodbhai Patel. She was mentally underdeveloped as per her age. She was studying in standard 5, but lacked in her studies and skills due to speech disorder and abnormal tongue. But it was more surprising to know that the school teachers had stopped giving her attention though she was the one in need of it the most.
When she started attending my lectures of basic mathematics and basic english, I personally decided to take charge of her improvement and development. I also remember the first day she came to my class. She tried to speak but could not utter a single word. When asked to write, she only scribbled a few lines. But none of her inabilities stopped me from encouraging her. Though it was difficult for her to speak, I would ask her to stand up in class and make her speak anything that she could manage. Even though she would only draw lines in her notebook, I would sign it, pat her back and appreciate her with a smile. The happiness on her face and the pride in her eyes that followed, amplify my zeal towards her.
We started seeing results. She started speaking and writing numbers from 1 to 10 and small easy words. Everybody in the school was awestruck to see such a transformation, made possible within 5 months of dedicated encouragement and attention, which they could not achieve in 5 years. When her father visited the school, his eyes, filled with tears of happiness, expressed his gratitude without words. Today, this little girl has become smart enough to understand most of the lessons. She can now write basic words and can nicely converse with people. Her father always thanks Dr. K. R. Shroff Foundation for completely transforming his daughter’s life.