Adviser to the Administrator, U.T. Chandigarh Sh. Manoj Parida, IAS visits the Government Rehabilitation Institute for Intellectual Disabilities (GRIID), sector-31, Chandigarh

Chandigarh, 14th February, 2019: The Adviser to the Administrator, U.T. Chandigarh Sh. Manoj Parida, IAS along with senior officers of Chandigarh Administration today visited the Government Rehabilitation Institute for Intellectual Disabilities (GRIID), sector-31, Chandigarh, which is a premier institution in North India.

During the visit, Sh. Parida interacted with the children with special needs, doctors attending to these children, and reviewed the educational and vocational training like book-binding, handmade paper making, Carpentry, Pottery, Masala grinding and candle & chair recaning being imparted to these children with intellectual disabilities at the Institute. The Adviser also took a round of the newly constructed Block A of the Institute.  

Currently 450 students are enrolled in GRIID for special education. The newly constructed Block A caters to the needs of the children with intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism and multiple disabilities. Due to a heavy footfall in students who require services from the institution, many of them were kept in waiting (waiting list 156), as it became difficult due to the scarcity of classrooms to ensure appropriate training and education. The construction of Block A came out as a ray of hope for parents who wanted to give a bright future to their wards and sought services from the institution since very long.

Block A has 46 rooms with separate room for music, dance and yoga. It will have dining room on all floors. Block A is equipped with material that are required to deal with children with disabilities and conditions associated with them. It has a unit of comprehensive services and proposes to expand the same in the new block too. With the availability barrier free classrooms and washrooms, the new block is an epitome of ideal architecture catering to need of children with disabilities. Block A is also equipped with elevators as well as ramp ways to assist students who faced difficulty with walking. Apart from that furniture is also adapted considering needs of the students classrooms are very well equipped with latest teaching materials. The fire safety of the building has also been ensured by the authorities.

The Adviser also visited the newly constructed Sports Complexes in sector 50 and 56, Chandigarh to ascertain the status of their completion. These sports complexes have a provision of 2 Squash courts, swimming pool, badminton hall, multipurpose hall and table tennis hall.

Among other officers present during the visits were Sh. Ajoy Kumar Sinha, IAS, Finance Secretary, Sh. B.L. Sharma, IAS, Secretary Education, Sh. Jitender Yadav, IAS, Special Secretary Home, Sh. Rubinderjit Singh Brar, PCS, Director School Education, Dr B. S. Chavan, Director GRIID, Sh. Mukesh Anand, Chief Engineer, Sh. Kapil Setia, Chief Architect and other officials from various Departments of Chandigarh Administration.