Sharjah: From freshly painted walls and tiled floors, to a new trampoline and painted mural, Manzil, the Sharjah-based learning centre catering to children with special needs celebrated the completion of its renovations on Thursday.
Manzil, which translates to ‘home’ in Arabic and ‘destination’ in Urdu is a second home to 41 children with special needs from the ages of four to 30, who attend the school five times a week from 8:30am to 1pm. Solely funded by donations, the centre’s facilities and equipment have been renovated and upgraded through a community project led by a UK-based company called Interserve.
Joining hands with several other companies in the UAE and abroad, the Interserve Community Project Team, comprising senior managers from the UK, the Phillipines, Oman and the UAE, kick-started their initiative to renovate, repair and upgrade the facility in January this year, completing the major works on April 30.
The renovations included a new sun shade and trampoline in the playground, new cupboards, doors, tables and a sanctuary room for the children, explained Daniel Griffiths, the Government Relations Manager at Interserve, who flew down from the UK for the celebration.
Griffiths pointed out the works, which were carried out over a three-to-four month period also included tiling the bathrooms and painting all the walls at the center.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary in February 2015, Manzil can now offer its students a better learning experience with an improved environment and upgraded equipment. “The project doesn’t end here, we are looking into a plan to provide suitable work placements for students in the future, retaining a lasting legacy,” said Griffiths.
The projects’ second phase falls in line with the center’s main goals. The center focuses on the concept of ‘inclusion,’ which aims to integrate children with special needs into the society’s mainstream schools, social life, and work force. “At Manzil, inclusion is done at three different levels; social, educational, and occupational,” said Dr Ayesha Saeed Husaini, Director of Manzil.
Children from the center along with their families socially interact with other families from mainstream schools as a part of the social programme. Educationally, the children join other students in various schools in Sharjah at least once a week, where they follow a specific curriculum in the classroom and receive training on the curriculum at the Manzil center.
“Our goal at Manzil is for all students who come to our center to leave being independent financially, and to be bale to live independently,” said Aisha.
This goal is usually achieved through the third programme called PRIDE, which stands for ‘people receiving independence and dignity through employment.’
The programme gives the students a chance to experience the work environment at different organisations by sending each child over the age of 14 with a supervisor to a workplace once a week.
Aisha explained that some students are able to work in a structured office environment, while others prefer to take part in different work activities. In both cases, the experience educates them by providing them with life skills, and skills required at the work place.
“It all about identifying the student’s skills and enhancing them with the ultimate goal being independence,” she said.
Students at the center are given an individualised schedule, which follows the IEP (Individualised education programme) system after they undergo a multi-disciplinary assessment. “Parents come in with the goals they want their children to achieve in the next five to 10 years, and after the child is evaluated, the parents and the teachers work together with the child to reach his/her goals,” explained Aisha.
The center currently has 41 students from nine different nationalities, and 26 staff. It is located in Sharjah’s Industrial Area 17.
For donations, www.manzil.ae/html/oursupporters.php
