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  About Us | What We Do

Suhrud Mandal was established on 1st August 1973.There were very few education facilities for
children with hearing impairment.

Eminent educationalist and a prominent person in the education of Hearing Impaired children , late
Mrs. Malatibai Joshi inspired her friends to work for this cause .

Aims and Objectives :
In order to enable the children with Hearing Impairment to lead life of a common person,
1. Frame schemes/projects for providing educations ,
2. Provide parental guidance ,
3. Undertake research work for their rehabilitation ,
4. Do ancillary things and assist them in all respects.

Structure :
General Body : Meetings are held twice a year . All members of Suhrud Mandal are informed
about major projects and activities .

Executive Committee : Experts in different fields are invited / volunteer to give advice
to the management committee .Every three years members are elected on this committee.The office
bearers of the management committee are selected from the elected members .

Management Committee : Management Committee looks into day-to-day working of the Institute
& schools . It consists of 5 office bearers , Chairperson, Vice-chairperson, Secretary,
Joint-secretary and Treasurer. There are five invitees in the committee .

About the Beginning of Suhrud :

The first school started with 5 children with hearing impairment (HI) children at the residence of
Late Mr.Bapusaheb and Mrs. Kamaltai Nagarkar. It is a non-Government Organisation (NGO) , registered
under Maharashtra State – Social Welfare Dept. , whose aim is to educate and bring the hearing
impaired children into the mainstream of the society. Suhrud Mandal is working for the education and
a rehabilitation program for HI children. This is a Pune (Maharashtra, India) based institution
working for 450 children with hearing impairment from rural areas and economically backward class .

Highlights :

Down the memory lane :

  1. Under the Home Training Program ,Suhrud Mandal started 39 schools in 15 districts of Maharashtra
    during the period 1976 to 2000 . Suhrud Mandal’s aim has been to reach the unreached. In
    its early years’ of Suhrud Mandal’s establishment, volunteers would survey rural
    parts of Maharashtra. If the volunteers found a significant number of children with hearing
    impairment in any specific geographic location ,Suhrud Mandal would start a special school in
    that vicinity with the help of a local NGO. Suhrud Mandal gave financial and educational support
    for the first three years to make the special school a sustainable project and later would hand
    over the school to the local management. Most of these schools are still actively working .
  2. Suhrud Mandal started 3 months special training courses .This course ,‘Abhinav Shikshak
    Prashikshan Padavika ‘ was successfully run for 15 years (1980 to 1995) . Eminent Doctors
    , ENT specialists, Audiologists & educators volunteered their services.
  3. Professional up gradation for the teachers is a continuous need .Suhrud Mandal sensitive to meet
    this need , conducted nearly 50 seminars / workshops for teachers (1989 to 2002) .Teachers
    across Maharashtra participated in these seminars. All the subjects related to reasons for
    deafness , teaching sign language ,simplification of the learning process , making teaching aids
    , rehabilitation of the Hearing Impaired child were discussed in these seminars.
  4. Maharashtra Pathya-Pustak Mandal ( BalBharati ) supported to print the simplified version of the
    history book for std. IV which was written by experienced teachers of Suhrud Mandal with the
    assistance of educationists .
  5. Hearing Aid distribution camp : Three days camp was organized for distribution of hearing aids
    with the help of Aliyawar Jung National Institute for Hearing Impaired , Mumbai. About 200
    students from the rural area benefited by this camp.
  6. Peripatetic Teachers Scheme.-Suhrud Mandal trained 6 teachers from remote villages to teach
    children of 2 to 5 years of age .This scheme was active in Ratnagiri ,Vadgaon, Javar,
    Ichalkaranji, Kasheli & Sangamner. About 25 children were benefited by this scheme.Late
    Vatsalatai Bhate , eminent educationalist started this project in year 1984 . Reaching out to
    unreachable children was a novel concept at that time .

  Our Vision

To create awareness about difficulties of
hearing impaired among the general
public by writing articles ,workshops,
lectures , demonstrations etc. To fulfill
these objectives arrange meetings and
make plans

To develop networking with other regular and special schools in the country and abroad.

To impart meaningful vocational training to enable rehabilitation .

To create information bank of issues related to Hearing Impairment.

To sensitise and guide the parents of the hearing impaired children .

  Our Mission

To create awareness and sensitize the
general population towards difficulties
and the special needs of those with
hearing impairment, through workshops,
lectures, seminars and by publishing
articles in mass media.

To establish networking with other special schools in the country.

To impart meaningful vocational training to enable rehabilitation and social development.

To create an information bank of relevant issues in hearing impairment.

 New projects

Balbharati text books simplified for children with special needs

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