Dagger Parivar School, a centre for care, is designed for specially-abled children of Baramulla, with a current strength of 103 children with different medical conditions. The school is a joint initiative of the Chinar Corps and the Indrani Balan Foundation, Pune, and was established on October 20, 2021. GOC 19 Infantry Division, chairman Indrani Balan Foundation, Pune, as well as other civil and army officers and parents of the children, were present. The specially abled children presented different cultural events and dance performances, which enthralled the audience.
The school was established with the aim of empowering gifted children to recreate their world. Specially abled students are being provided with facilities so that they can be integrated into mainstream and other educational institutions. So far, with the hard work and dedication of the teachers and management, eight children from this school have been transferred to different government and private schools.
Talking to the media, Janhavi Dhariwal Balan, the founder of the Indrani Balan Foundation, said that the foundation has established 11 schools in collaboration with the Army, of which one is for specially abled children. She added that these children have more abilities than normal children, but providing them with multiple opportunities is the main objective of the foundation.
GOC 19 Infantry Division Major General Rajesh Sethi said that the Army, in collaboration with the Indrani Balan Foundation, will certainly upgrade the infrastructure of the school so that more such children get a chance to explore the opportunities here. One of the parents of a specially abled child praised the work of the Indian army and the foundation. He shared the challenges of raising special needs children, but the school has given such parents hope.
Indrani Balan Foundation’s President, Punit Balan quoted “A new generation of Kashmir is being shaped through the schools run by Indrani Balan Foundation. Kashmiri students definitely have talent and deserve a platform to showcase it. Therefore, the foundation wants to support these students who have long been impacted by terrorism. We believe that these students represent India's future and want to help them build a more prosperous Kashmir. So, in the future, we intend to open more schools.”