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Signs of good times in Tirupur school for deaf | Deccan Chronicle
Tirupur School for the Deaf is not just another special school. It's a school built with bricks of hard work and cemented with love and hope.
When 49-year-old K. Murugasamy, a hearing-impaired former national-level football player, laid the foundation for the school in 1997, his pupils too joined in the effort. They pooled in prize money received in various competitions and built a science lab and a classroom.
For a ‘normal’ visitor, the school would appear a silent building. But its students sing, shout and tease each other, using signs.
“This is our house,” they say, trying to teach the basics of sign language to visitors.
G. Seenivasan, 24, says: “I remember how I reached this school as a depressed 10-year-old. As I wasn't taught well in a ‘normal’ school, I was not clear about my interest in studies.
“Here, teachers never forced me to learn and taught subjects that interested me. I learned painting and recently held an exhibition of over 5,000 canvases.”
Another student C. Rathnam, 22, was ill-treated and not allowed to attend school as a child.
“I was longing to go to school. Family members would beat me up often saying I brought ill luck. I ran away and entered a nearby school. The teacher there convinced my parents and sent me to this school,” she says.
Rathnam joined the Tirupur school as 13-year-old. “The principal and teachers gave me moral support and now I am a national-level champion in chess and shot put,” she says.
The school has given a new lease of life to over 300 students. B.Com graduate principal Murugasamy feels he still has to do a lot for the welfare of his students.
“There is a misconception that disabled persons are less competent. My children here are examples of hard work and talent. They need a little support to scale big heights,” he says, proudly.
Tirupur School for the Deaf is not just another special school. It's a school built with bricks of hard work and cemented with love and hope.
When 49-year-old K. Murugasamy, a hearing-impaired former national-level football player, laid the foundation for the school in 1997, his pupils too joined in the effort. They pooled in prize money received in various competitions and built a science lab and a classroom.
For a ‘normal’ visitor, the school would appear a silent building. But its students sing, shout and tease each other, using signs.
“This is our house,” they say, trying to teach the basics of sign language to visitors.
G. Seenivasan, 24, says: “I remember how I reached this school as a depressed 10-year-old. As I wasn't taught well in a ‘normal’ school, I was not clear about my interest in studies.
“Here, teachers never forced me to learn and taught subjects that interested me. I learned painting and recently held an exhibition of over 5,000 canvases.”
Another student C. Rathnam, 22, was ill-treated and not allowed to attend school as a child.
“I was longing to go to school. Family members would beat me up often saying I brought ill luck. I ran away and entered a nearby school. The teacher there convinced my parents and sent me to this school,” she says.
Rathnam joined the Tirupur school as 13-year-old. “The principal and teachers gave me moral support and now I am a national-level champion in chess and shot put,” she says.
The school has given a new lease of life to over 300 students. B.Com graduate principal Murugasamy feels he still has to do a lot for the welfare of his students.
“There is a misconception that disabled persons are less competent. My children here are examples of hard work and talent. They need a little support to scale big heights,” he says, proudly.