Gonpasingma School

 Gonpasingma School is a Newly Found Place for Special Children

A school stands on the apex of Zobel village, connecting many villages nearby.
 If you take a distance view from the adjacent motor road, it presents you with an immediate invitation to the place. Historically the place was founded by the local priest Yalo and Kalo as a new hermitage sites more than two decade ago, thus the name Gonpasingma.

school standing in a distance view from road point

I never dream of being in the place, until I was placed by the Dzogkhag to serve the school.  Once as a primary school goer I had been to this school to participate in the talent hood haunt competition. I remember sleeping in the dusted hostel fighting hard against the chilly aired room. Since then, the place became once again the strange place in my memory. 
Another picture of the school was, students studying in the school were found to have red cheeks due to severe cold weather, thus making it easy for the identification of the previous school. My brother also studied in the school and it was this school that he was shaped and molded to a man of today.
 Once School was well known for producing a good Dzongkha calligrapher. Under the strict monitoring of teacher Jamba.  My brother nearly dropped the school, when he had failed in handwriting improvement.  It is also well-known for the water shortage and producing a good potatoes harvest from the household.
Today school is housing a special room for the differently abled children. It was instituted since 2015 and it is connecting the children from nearby villages like Restang, Norkhe,Zobel and Mongling.
My School being a place for the special child; teachers too were special. Teachers’ receives numerous workshops to fulfill the need of those needy students unlike other teachers and other school.

Teachers discussing the story of Special Child

The School caters the learning need of differently abled children such as autism, hearing impairments and speech impairments.
I have been teaching in this school for two years. My experience of teaching the students were like finding the jewels from the dust. As challenged by the working experience and meeting the learning needs of a teacher, I still find the joy of being in the SEN program.
Every child is treated as special. And teachers do believes in their hard-work and commitment to be the agents of change for those special souls. An inch of change, teachers are able to bring to those students is a big success story.
School is also transforming structurally. Completion of ongoing ramp constructions for the wheel-chaired students will add another structural transformation to the school. There is also a call for the need of changing the old classroom structures for the special children.
SEN school is a special school in Pema gatshel. What if there is no such room for those students, they are likely to become a complete waste to the family and to the nation as a whole. Or they could have become a perfect cow herder or victim of stigma in the public. The nature of disability is a complicated concept for teachers but they do understand it as acceptable.
Therefore, it is important for all of us to be aware of the special, abled and differently abled person in life. You or I may be the next person to sit on wheel chair, so, there lies a question of respecting and accepting them in our heart. Everyone should become one in system of ours.