KATHMANDU, Sept 1: Ramesh Shrestha, a teacher at the Central Deaf Secondary School in Kathmandu is always worried about the safety of children with hearing impairment. He is mostly concerned about them in the playground or while commuting to school as they need special attention.

“They are different from other students so they need extra care,” says Shrestha, who looks after 42 deaf children studying at the community school.

Shrestha’s worries have been pacified to some extent with the establishment of an indoor hall for the deaf children at the school’s hostel in Bhinsengola. The hall has been set up especially for training judo for the children.

Dharma Kumar Shrestha, senior vice president of Nepal Deaf and Blind Para Judo Association, says that they established the training center for the physical and mental well being of the differently abled children.

“We don’t want to discriminate against the differently abled children,” said Shrestha, who is also credited for establishing judo training facility for blind children at Laboratory School in Kirtipur.
This particular training center is the first-of-its-kind in Nepal for teaching judo to the deaf children. 
“This is the first judo training center for the deaf,” claimed Shrestha.

The facility has been set up with financial assistance of Rs 1.5 million from Japanese volunteer Daiki Soji and his team as well as Lions Club of Kathmandu. According to Shrestha, who is also the general 
secretary of Nepal Judo Association, Soji contributed Rs 1 million and Lions Club Rs 287,000. The remaining amount was provided by the Nepal Deaf and Blind Para Judo Association. The training center was inaugurated amid a function at the hostel on Saturday.   
 

 
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