Mother Mary’s Blessings

The degree of patience, perseverance and tolerance required to handle spastic and mentally retarded children can never be imagined, nor the efforts of the teacher ever be at question, if one is truly dedicated to the cause of teaching these children through love, emotions, care and responsibility.
Unlike all teachers who apparently envisage the day ahead and the tasks assigned thereof, this small group of teachers at the St. Mary’s Montessori & Hr. Sec. School are faced with new challenges and surprises each day. Ever since its inception in 1999, the numbers are multiplying more because of the love, care and sense of understanding that prevails in the class-room.
For, Mr. Lanu A. Aimol, a degree holder in mental retardation from National Institute for mentally handicapped, Secunderabad, every encounter or interaction with a child is considered a new opening and experience.”It takes time to develop an attachment or propinquity with these children but when their feelings begin to comprehend the sagacity of belonging and the joy of being loved gradual development appears in their behavioral patterns”.
The councilor with the assistance of his trained teachers Miss Moarenla and Sutapa Chakraborty who are also trained from “Blessings” Dibrugarh, an institute affiliated to Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy Kolkata, spends hours together helping the children to respond to the activities organized for them both indoors and outdoors.
The silence of these children can be analyzed as spoken messages which are not uttered and yet felt among those who understand and feel the language of silence.
The facts we need to understand of people suffering from cerebral palsy is that they are not mad and they too possess the normal intelligence like that of any other individual. Besides we also need to recognize that cerebral palsy is not a disease nor is it the cause due to the fault of either parent.
“Mother Mary’s Blessings: a school for spastic and mentally handicapped and retarded children under the aegis of St. Mary’s Montessori & Hr. Sec. School, Church road, Dimapur is the first of its kind in the state to be initiated by a privately run institution.
Speaking to a reporter the Late Administrator Mr. P.K.Dutta said that the establishment of this project had come about accidentally when one student began showing signs of abnormality in the lower classes. “I was quick to understand that these children need individual care and attention besides constant consideration for developing their aptitude to encounter normal classroom assignments.” He determined. He went on to add that learning should not be achieved but more as an activity to be enjoyed. To ensure that the child achieves success and remains motivated to learn, simplify the task. Incentives are necessary for all children, he claimed.
Unlike normal children who follow a common syllabus these children are taught various activities in a systematic and pragmatic method keeping in view their limitations and assets. This in turn develops confidence and self-assurance in the child with each passing day.
With Mr. Lanu and his team undergoing new challenges and experiences with these children almost every day, we could be rest assured that these children will be able to express themselves through varied expressions sooner or later.