Sanskruti club in Hyderabad has become synonymous with social work. Whether it’s running a school for the differently abled or holding annual craft bazaars, they do it well, writes Shyamola Khanna

Fifteen years ago, seven women from business families came together in Hyderabad to create a forum, which would help them give back something valuable to society. They felt the need to promote arts and culture. Thus was started the Sanskruti Club.

From the first 35 who first met in September 1987, the numbers have grown to 127. The founder members are careful about who they enrol. They don't want the club to turn frivolous. It has a fair representation of almost all communities.

The members are encouraged to display their talents in the often-held Sanskruti craft bazaar, which is quite popular in Hyderabad. Lata Bhatia and Kumud Dharia, amongst the oldest members, believe in leading by example. While Lata helps women make beautiful bead bags, Kumud raises money though her food venture. The money collected is used for sponsoring educational scholarships and their pet project, Sanskruti Shikhar.

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The complete name of the project is Sanskruti Shikhar Sanchalit Amrit Varsha Kapadia School. It’s a school for the differently abled.

It came about with the club's desire to do something valuable for the mentally challenged children, especially girls. Although the school runs on charity, the aspirations of the trustees are not clipped.

With their level of involvement in the project, the school's come a long way. In it rests hope for many hapless parents and challenged children.

Praveena Mohan, who has been teaching for 15 years, professionally manages the school. With her team of special educators, she maintains its high standards. Each class has about eight children. Distribution is made on the basis of mental age, not chronological age.

The trustees decided to enrol children with a certain IQ level and not below it. This was primarily done to make learning more effective. Students learn better when they are in their peer group with similar abilities. Anything more or less increases stress levels and leads to a dip in the learning curve.

Though the trustees feel uncomfortable about refusing the more retarded children, they don't have the facilities to cope with that.

Three-year-old Sanskruti Shikhar looks a happy place where the children are taught yoga, singing and dancing apart from art and crafts, cooking, sports and special education.

They are also put through regular health checks and physiotherapy by specialists. To make the lives of parents easier, transport facility is also made available.

Children of Sanskruti Shikhar have taken part in the Special Olympics and have won 27 medals at the State level. Students like Pawan, Moosa, Siddhu and Prasanna are delightful products of the school.

While Pawan has mastered the Xerox copier, Moosa and Siddhu, though autistic, are beginning to converse with the help of a speech therapist. And Prasanna has the talent to copy any photograph to perfection. The club believes in teaching a skill to every child.

Going by this belief and spirit, each member comes forward to teach and make her contribution of compassion.