The Gujarat Samaj Educational Trust (GSET), Margao, organized an inter-school golden click league tournament for special children on Friday. Around 19 schools for the disabled from across Goa took part in the event, which was inaugurated by GSET Chairman Mukesh Saglani.

Incidentally, the Gujarat Samaj School helps children with academics, recreational, personal, social and occupational skills and helps them live independently. As per their ages and abilities, the students are placed in pre-primary, primary, secondary, and pre-vocational groups. The youngest in the school is 3-years-old while the oldest is 28 years-old.

A school for mentally challenged and hearing impaired was started in the GSET premises when the Margao comunidade gave 900 square mts of land. The school was inaugurated in 1995 and around five years ago, the Goa government gave a plot of 6,500 sq mts.

When asked how he cared for these special children as well as his business, Saglani proudly said that his visits to the school had become a daily affair and that he met the children first before going about his business. He added that this institution had been there for 31 years and that this job gave him peace of mind.

When asked how difficult it is to teach special children, PE teacher Ulhas Mahale stated that it was not difficult to teach such children and it was actually easier than teaching ‘normal’ children. He said that in his experience, special children accepted, followed and grasped information faster that the other children. He added that he had taken up teaching special children as a challenge.

The Gujarat Samaj School has represented India in the Special Olympics. Its students took part in the 1996 and 2011 Olympics in China and Greece respectively. In the latter, the students took part in skating, badminton, basketball and volleyball events. Two students were part of the Indian volley team that played in Los Angeles, USA, in 2015.