Feathers

Striving for Inclusion in Education by Enabling Children with Disabilities.

  • Bronze Certified 2023
  • 80G
  • 12A
  • CSR-1
Transparency Rating:
Transparency Rating
The transparency rating is calculated based on the amount of information available for the organisation.
Bronze Certified Bronze Certified

About

  • Headquarters

    Madurrai, Tamil Nadu

  • Since

    2016

FEATHERS stands for Foundation for Enabling Action to Transform Human Excellence with Resilience and Self-reliance. Feathers is a not-for-prof Read moreit development organisation promoted on October 10, 2016, coinciding with the World Mental Health Day, which is observed with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health. Promoted by a group of development professionals with long years of experience in undertaking development work at the grassroots, FEATHERS envisions building an inclusive society with enshrined values of equality, equity and humaneness. FEATHERS works for children with special educational needs (SEN). The Learning Resource Centre promoted by FEATHERS in Madurai has been mandated to reach out to children with special needs requiring professional assistance and offer on-campus and off-campus remediation services. Run by a team of committed and trained special educators, guided by the experts in the field of educational psychology and therapeutic interventions, equipped with appropriate teaching-learning materials, FEATHERS strives to become a Centre of Excellence in Learning and Intellectual Disabilities in Children.


Issue

FEATHERS works on three important issues that concern the children: 1. Developmental delays among the under-6 children Developmental delays are common in childhood, occurring in 10%–15% of under the age of 5 years. Developmental delays are classified mild, moderate, severe, and profound with respect to intensity. Also, the developmental delay may be one domain or more than one domain which is known as global developmental delays, which are less common, occurring in 1%-3%. Children with disabilities, particularly for the children who require early intervention services are more vulnerable when there is a lack of access to timely and early intervention. It is vital for families to have access to services that support early childhood development. Early intervention services are more crucial but the services are not affordable to all kinds of people. While the families from upper income group could get support services from privately available sources, the households from poor and downtrodden communities could not access such services from the public healthcare facilities. 2. Learning Disabilities Learning disorders affect the academic achievements of the children due to their inability to interpret what is seen and heard, or to link information from different parts of the brain. Children with learning difficulties cannot be identified until they start going to school. Many children do not exhibit any signs until they engage in tasks which require certain kind of cognitive processing which becomes apparent then. With the right support and intervention, children with learning disabilities can cope-up with the deficiencies and succeed in their careers. What they need is encouragement and support to make them realise their strengths and weaknesses, guidance, and assistance from professionals for dealing with specific difficulties. Child centered instructional planning, individualised education programme that are appropriate to child’s special needs, continuous assessment for evaluating the progress are very much essential. 3. Intellectual Disability Intellectual Disabilities denote “significantly sub average intellectual functioning existing concurrently with related limitations in two or more of the following applicable adaptive skill areas: communication, self-care, home living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure and work,” with such limitations manifested “before age 18”. India has the world's largest children population who are at higher risk of developmental disabilities. Intellectual disability (ID) contributes to 10.8% of the burden of mental disorders, measured by disability-adjusted life-years, in India. Overall, India has a prevalence of 10.5/1000 in ID. These children require diagnosis and therapeutic intervention or special care by qualified specialists. Typically, families with children requiring assistance for special needs are on a lifetime journey that is both emotionally and financially challenging.


Action

The Interventions evolved, designed and implemented by FEATHERS to address the issues faced by the children at during their formative years are: 1• Poonthalir is a Community Based Early Intervention Programme of FEATHERS, which works among the children diagnosed with developmental delays. A team of therapists and community rehabilitation workers visit the homes of those children in the rural areas and provide a combination of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and special education for improving their cognition, activity for daily living, adaptive skills, social and emotional Skills. 2• Karka Kasadara is a remedial education programme of FEATHERS, which works among the children with different forms of learning disabilities such as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia and Dyspraxia. Feathers works with the mainstream school education system by establishing remedial resource rooms to provide specialized care and attention to those children with appropriate remedial education and training at Primary Level. 3• Poovanam is a Special Education initiative of FEATHERS that works among the children with physical, intellectual, sensorial, developmental disabilities by engaging a team of trained and experienced special educators specialised in handling children with special needs. Guided by experts in the field of rehabilitation and therapeutic interventions, special education, Feathers team approaches the children with professional rigour and motherly care and attention. 4• Vaanavil is an Art Integrated Learning Approach promoted by FEATHERS, wherein the kids are facilitated to explore creatively at their individual pace both in visual and performing arts for better understanding and construction of knowledge about different concepts. With the support of expert practitioners in the field of Visual and Performing arts, the children are oriented on the art-integrated learning methods in the classroom and outdoor environments.

Impact

FEATHERS Works are spread over • 2 Districts • 96 Panchayats • 349 Villages • 63 Municipal Wards • 13 Government Primary Schools • 2800 Students under remedial education • 450 Children with Developmental Delays under Rehabilitation / early intervention

Programs

  • Poonthalir - Community Based Early Intervention Programme

    The Community Based Early Intervention Programme of FEATHERS assists the children diagnosed with developmental delays to improve their delayed milestones through physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and special education for improving their cognition, activity for daily living, adaptive skills, social and emotional Skills. We have designed this programme with the support of Amar Seva Sangam, and with the support of Enabling Inclusion App (a Teach based platform to assess, remediate and track the impact).

  • Karka Kasadara – Remedial Education for Children with Learning Disabilities

    Children with learning disability may have difficulty in reading, writing, spelling, reasoning, recalling and/or organizing information. They are often pushed out of schools due to academic underachievement. Feathers works with the mainstream school education system to provide specialized care and attention to those children with appropriate remedial education and training at Primary Level. Karka Kasadara is a remedial education programme of FEATHERS, which works among the children with different forms of learning disabilities such as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia and Dyspraxia. FEATHERS works with department of elementary education to work with Primary Schools to establish resource rooms in the government primary schools to identify and remediate the children with learning disabilities and difficulties.

  • Poovanam – Special Education for Children with Intellectual Disabilities

    Children with special education needs also known as ‘special children’, ‘exceptional children’, ‘handicapped children’ are recognised as having mental, emotional, physical or social needs. They require diagnosis and therapeutic intervention or special care by qualified specialists. FEATHERS offers special education by engaging a team of trained and experienced special educators specialised in handling children with special needs. Guided by experts in the field of rehabilitation and therapeutic interventions, special education, Feathers team approaches the children with professional rigour and motherly care and attention. Approach it follows in the rehabilitation are: Early identification and assessment of disabilities in children, combination of therapies including occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech therapy, training on activities for daily living, parent counselling and training.

  • Vaanavil – Art Integrated Learning Programme

    Vaanavil is an Art Integrated Learning Approach promoted by FEATHERS, wherein the kids are facilitated to explore creatively at their individual pace both in visual and performing arts for better understanding and construction of knowledge about different concepts. With the support of expert practitioners in the field of Visual and Performing arts, the children are oriented on the art-integrated learning methods in the classroom and outdoor environments. • Any successful teaching-learning practice should kindle creative and critical thinking abilities of children. Our pedagogical approach should trigger their active listening and observation skills, be it in the classroom or out in nature. It requires planned strategies for creating enabling environment for art-integrated learning. Art-Integrated Learning is a teaching-learning approach based on learning 'through the arts' and 'with the arts': it is a process where art becomes the medium of teaching-learning.

Impact Metrics

  • Children Benefited by the Programmes of Feathers

    Program Name

    FEATHERS Interventions

    Year-wise Metrics
    • 2022-23 3250

Leadership Team

  • Nageswari R

    Executive Director

  • Krishnamurthi P

    Programme Advisor

Demographics & Structure

  • No. of Employees

    6-20

M&E

  • Internal, External Assessors

    No

Policies

  • Ethics and Transparency Policies

    No

  • Formal CEO Oversight & Compensation Policy

    No

Political & Religious Declarations

  • On Affiliation if any

    No

  • On Deployment Bias if any

    No

Registration Details

  • PAN Card

    AAATF6558Q

  • VO ID / Darpan ID

    TN/2021/0274239

  • 12A

    AAATF6558QE20214

  • 80G

    AAATF6558QF20212

  • FCRA

    Not Available

  • CSR Registration Number

    CSR00012431

Location

Other Details

  • Type & Sub Type

    Non-profit
    Trust

Financial Details

 Income / Expenses
  • 2022-23

    Income
    Rs.3,802,468
    Expenses
    Rs.3,802,468
    Admin Expenses
    Rs.1,363,604
    Program Expenses
    Rs.2,438,864
    Tip: Click on any value above to exclude it.