Bonafice Prabhu seeks govt support for PWDs

Renowned para athlete Boniface Prabhu made a strong case for government policies that promote inclusion, empowerment and education of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) when he met Sports Minister T Padma Rao during the stopover of the 3,500km long ‘Thums Up VEER Kashmir2Kanyakumari’ (K2K) road expedition in the city.

The 44-year-old Bengaluru-based wheelchair tennis player is leading the expedition to create awareness and sensitise people to the cause of PWDs during which he interacting with the minister at Nallagutta Government High School in Secunderabad.

Boniface outlined the need for inclusion and accessibility for PWDs and the need to pay special emphasis on education of children in Telangana especially since the State is a young but fast rising one.

---

A pilot project 'Empowerment of Children through Sports’ was launched that advocates ‘Right to Education’ and ‘Right to Play’ for all

---

In this regard, the pilot project 'Empowerment of Children through Sports’ witnessed participation from 30 children with special needs at the school along with hundreds of other children.

Overwhelmed with the participation of differently abled children in the tournament Padma Rao said, “Children shape the destiny of a society.

While on one hand we need to ensure that we are providing well rounded and quality education to them, we must also provide right values.

One of these is that every child has equal rights to quality education. This means schools need to be inclusive for children with special needs.”

“From a young age, children must be sensitised to the needs of PWDs and how to encourage, include and take care of them,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, K Abhilash, State Manager, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Plan India, Hyderabad said,

“We strongly believe that schools should have inclusive education as it widens learning technique and encourages children with differential abilities to participate equally.

Keeping in mind the special care required for these children in schools we inaugurated the sports project and will continue to support the ‘Right to Education’, 'Right to Play' for all.”

The VEER K2K expedition was flagged off from Jammu and Kashmir and covered 2,500km over 20 days before reaching the city.