Bumblebee Inclusive School – Kohima

In Nagaland, where stigma around disability still keeps many children behind closed doors, Bumble Bee Inclusive School opened its gates in 2013. It began with a simple realization that children with disabilities needed more than just therapy sessions – They needed classrooms, friends and a chance to learn alongside their non-disabled peers.
Let’s watch how at Bumble Bee, inclusion isn’t a special effort but simply how a school is meant to be.
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We initially started with the Bumblebee Remedial Center in 2011.
Um, we were catering to children across disability because there were actually no services for children with disabilities.
But we also realized that um just having a remedial center was not enough to cater to the needs of a lot of the children because we needed to spend more time with them.
They needed to be part of a more structured program.
So, in 2013 we started the Bumblebee Inclusive School.
And since then we’ve been working with children across disabilities and um our main goal was also to provide a space where children with disabilities could come and experience formal education.
And also uh we we believe that we had to create more awareness around disability
because there has been a lot of um uh resistance from the community,
especially in allowing children to participate in formal education or even having a space for them.
In 2015, we had uh parents come in and tell us that we have to shut the school
because, you know, they did not want children with disabilities to participate in a community space.
So, um you know so when we think of stigma that is something that we were now more driven to work and break, you know, mindsets like that.
Especially in Nagaland where there’s a lot of stigma attached to persons with disabilities,
a lot, a huge number of children are still confined to their homes.
So, it’s been a struggle to, for us also as an institution to bring children out from their homes
because uh parents still need to participate, you know, so, yeah.
So, we’ve been in this field for about 11 years and we’ve been making uh small progress.
Now we have around 110 students in the school
and out of which around 15 of them are children with disabilities.
But they are um able to participate and they are you know included in every activity around the school.
So, uh that’s what we’re trying to provide, you know, a more inclusive space for children with disabilities.
We work with children with learning disabilities, autism, down syndrome,
and uh even uh hearing and speech impairment.
We’re not restricted that we will work only with a certain kind of disability
because over the years we’ve had these children come in,
and a lot of them have come in through word of mouth, you know, and then um uh references from friends, yeah.
The ratio that we keep uh for the teachers and the students is 1 is to 8
because we also feel that the number should be healthy for even the teacher to be able to give them quality um uh time, you know.
So, that is what we’re doing. You know we provide them concessions for fees and a lot of other services.
We also have children from economically um disadvantaged groups.
And we have uh classes from playgroup up to class 6.
Um, the kindergarten level is also there.
Um, and this year we’re very happy that at least in the playgroup we have a girl with dwarfism.
It’s also our first experience working with someone like that.
So we’re very very happy.
We’re looking forward.