28 November 2016 12:16 am
The appeal state, “at the CEHIC, children who are ignored and marginalized as deaf and “dumb” are educated and trained using the Auditory – Verbal Method to hear and speak from the youngest pre-school age so that the child enter the mainstream of education.
The CEHIC bases its work with hearing impaired children on five principal areas-
1) The use of the Auditory Verbal Method of Education (and not sign language).
2) The morning Pre School education programme which sets the “deaf” children and their families on the path of becoming creative and full members of our society from the earliest
3) INTEGRATION into the mainstream educational system in Sri Lanka at the school-going age and conducting extra daily classes in the afternoons in the key subjects of the national curriculum for the integrated children from YEAR ONE To YEAR 13 (University entrance)
4) Providing a holistic education which includes training in music, dancing, arts and craft , home science, sewing, woodwork, pottery, gymnastics, sports, etc. and
5) Making the parental involvement in the child’s early education a central pillar of the CEHIC programme. One parent accompanies their child every day, sits in the classroom alongside the child and learns the techniques and processes which are continued in the home. Thus the school becomes the home and the home becomes the school.
Today over 600 of our children are studying in regular schools throughout Sri Lanka. The oldest group of past pupils from CEHIC are now young adults and are facing life in the real world with all its challenges. Those who have the ability are encouraged to go into higher education and some have entered university and obtained degrees. Six of our past pupils have graduated from universities in Sri Lanka and two are currently completing their first degrees. For those who wish to enter the world of work, CEHIC is now planning to develop its Vocational Training and Aftercare Centre. The centre has a full-time complement of teachers, administrative and minor staff and also part-time teachers.
The driving force of CEHIC is the hope it instills in every hearing impaired child that they too have a positive future as equal partners with every other member of society in building a just, prosperous and peaceful Sri Lanka.
From our founding in 1982 we have been helped financially to find our running costs through the generosity of donor institutions, private individuals, friends and well-wishers both here and aboard. However these donations are not continuous and we have to keep seeking funds from month to month for our day-to-day expenses training of teachers.
We are committed to continue providing this very special, very expensive and time-consuming education.
This is because we are convinced that charging fees from the children would exclude the very poor
You can complete and hand in a Standing Order from at your bank, or let us know the name of your bank and we will collect the form and bring it to you from completion and your signature and if you so wish, take the signed from to your bank ourselves.
Be assured that these children who will benefit from your generosity will bring abundant blessings to you, your family and your work,”.
The CEHIC trustees are Ven. V. Kusaladhamma Nayake Thera, Rev. Sr. Greta Nalawatta, Prof. Sarath Amunugama and Rev. Fr. Aloysius Peieris s.j.