Introduction

There are 270 BUDS Institutions (schools for Divyang children and Rehabilitation of intellectually disabled adults, owned by LSGIs under the guidance of Kudumbashree). As schools have closed due to the Covid-19 lockdown, these kids are staying at home. The teachers of these schools are instructed to provide support to the kids. Hence the teachers provide instructions to parents to keep the children engaged during the lockdown.

In order to prevent the community spread of covid-19 Kerala state announced lockdown. It is well documented that people with disabilities are among the most vulnerable in crisis situations. The covid-19 outbreak is not only threatening their health but also disrupting their access to various facilities. There was a chance of hyper activity by them during the lockdown.  As a part of lock down implementation, BUDS institutions also closed. There are 270 BUDS Institutions owned by LSGIs and guided by Kudumbashree and 8521 differently -abled persons of different age groups and their families directly or indirectly depend on these institutions for their education, recreation and vocation. Taking care of these kids in closed rooms miserably put their parents in trouble.  During this homebound time, with the guidance and direction of Kudumbashree State Mission, all BUDS/BRC staff prepared the action plan for the BUDS beneficiaries. The BUDS/BRC staff had developed an alternative syllabus with ‘challenge based individual care plan’ and Teaching Learning Materials (TLM).  The same was delivered to parents. In order to maintain the consistency of institution based training, these home programmes were provided. 

Planning and Implementation

As per the authorities instructions based on the individual ability level and available resources, teachers and rehabilitation professionals developed a   daily activity plan and time schedule for the beneficiaries. ie primary, secondary and tertiary groups. These activities cover daily living skills and household skills to develop functional academics and vocational skills .These are conveyed to the parents via various mediums.  Evaluations and corrections are made with help of these media feedbacks .Through the professional WhatsApp group the resources and information are shared thus creating a material pool for reference. Weekly monitoring of these activities is done by the Kudumbashree District Mission officials. 

Besides all these, essential services like food and medicine were given to the needy through the local self governing body. Apart from all the physical needs, support to solve the behavioural problems and lock down related psychological problems, counselling and other related services were offered to the beneficiaries.

Conclusion

From the initial week onwards there were surprising responses   from the parents and students. The activities prepared by Kudumbashree have brought remarkable changes in the life of BUDS beneficiaries.  Kudumbashree – BUDS Institutions once again proved their service quality and social commitment.