Little Flower School: Giving Voice, Words and Dreams To Deaf Children

Nobody can really tell these children are deaf – they are so fluent in listening, understanding and speaking English as well as Tamil! Smiles, Smiles and Smiles! This is how I was welcomed at the Little Flower Convent Hr. Sec. School in G.N.Road, Chennai. Occupying a huge area near Gemini flyover, it is a lush green place filled with young enthusiastic children. The school was started way back in 1962 with one child; today it has 535 young minds. The school supports an excellent environment promoting not just education but all hidden talents they posses. With national and state award winning stints in both art and sport genre, the school also has been giving cent percent results at the board, says the Principal.

We focus on all the kids here, with no bias on religion, language or caste. Some of the children when they join, they are quite hesitant and shy, we make sure we bring them in front, make them break their shackles of fear, and interact. We strongly encourage listening and talking, use of sign language is not allowed.

The school aims in promoting education both in English and Tamil medium, free of cost, to all children. It trains teachers in the modern methodologies of teaching the deaf and works untiringly to integrate them into mainstream schools in order to provide them equal opportunities from an early age to lead a normal life like the rest. Also, deserving students are provided hearing aids free of cost with nominal repairing cost.

Sherley, a teacher in the school shares her experience. She says,

It was not a choice I made, I believe God chose me to do this. I have II grade teacher training with special vocational training to teach the deaf. I once had a student with profound deafness. At the end of the term I gave her an audibility test, reading up to 120 lines, and it was just brilliant to see her response. Today she is in a mainstream school.

The words of the teachers there showed the interest and dedication they had towards the children and it seemed like they would go one mile ahead to make sure their children perform better at whatever they chose to do.

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