Based in Delhi, India, the Patiala CC has provided support for the hearing-impaired and the blind -- through education, food and housing – for 46 years. Cooperation Circle members also provide daily activities at a retirement community, arrange camps for developmentally-disabled children and organize interfaith dialogue seminars for people of all castes and colors.
Patiala will celebrate its “Raising Day” anniversary on Saturday, April 20 with a talent showcase for the students who attend its three residential schools – one for the deaf, one for the blind and one for students who are both deaf and blind. Each school welcomes students from throughout north India, including the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Smt. Preneet Kaur, Minister of State External Affairs, will be the chief guest at the event.
For all of its 46 years, the Patiala CC has relied on donors, rather than government funding, to support its programs – which include a free education, uniforms, school supplies, room and board for all of the students who attend.
More than 900 deaf and 400 blind children have attended the Patiala schools, which welcome students from pre-kindergarten through secondary school. The Patiala school for students who are both blind and deaf, which opened in 2011, is only the third such school in India.
