Prabhat Education Foundation

Prabhat Education Foundation (PEF) serves children and adults with special needs, helping them to achieve their full potential thereby bridging the gap between mainstream society and those with special needs. Realizing the need for access to care, education and learning of this group, PEF conceptualized an institutional facility to provide systematic rehabilitation services that could be accessible for those challenged by poverty and mobility. Eventually, working with and through local communities became Prabhat’s hallmark.

Major Interventions:

Prabhat Centres:  The Centre’s are designed as welcoming, cheerful and safe spaces for counselling, assessment, therapy, learning-by- doing and for joy. Prabhat’s pedagogy uses a multiple intelligence approach. The team of special educators are supported by assessment and therapy processes conducted and guided by experts. Occupational training opportunities provide direction toward future livelihoods and productive citizenship for children with special needs. These activities include learning skills and abilities for greater self-reliance and confidence, play that supports learning as well as psychological and physical therapy, education, scholarships to siblings of children with special needs, parents counselling and training, health camps, exposure visits and festivals.

Community-Based Rehabilitation Program (CBR): The focus is to create enabling environments and capacities within the communities and homes to support and encourage those children with special needs and their families who cannot access Prabhat Centres due to barriers of mobility, distance or awareness. This programme is the outcome of field observations, home visits and discussions with other experienced institutions and activists. The key element is Home-based Programme which provides support through training, learning and counselling opportunities organized in and through the neighbourhood. Surveys generate base-level data to identify priority needs.

Advocacy: Through networking and partnerships, it aims to strengthen each of these services and create a more enabling environment for special children in society. Training and Workshops, Institutional Visits, Cultural Events and Social Events helps in advocacy and networking. The focus is on demonstrating success stories and work towards attitudinal changes among people/ community with the help and support from local leaders, institutions and by the community itself.