We Work Together
We work together with an aim to make education happen in an interactive and practical way rather than the traditional way of learning.
Our Vision & Mission
Our mission is to educate deaf children in a holistic, bilingual, and truly inclusive way.
Our vision is to be a school where
- we provide an environment with full access to learning, language and the curriculum for deaf children.
- Indian Sign Language has equal importance along with written languages.
- everyone in the school community feels that they belong and are accepted, giving meaning to inclusion in a real sense.
- we educate children for the 21st-century, so that they develop into creative, resourceful and resilient members of society.
- we fully integrate eco-education into learning.
Our vision is to be a learning community where
- deaf children’s education is the collective responsibility of teachers, students, families and the society at large.
- we support networking for bilingual deaf education in India and share our experiences and best practice with others in our sector.
- we prioritise continuous professional development of those who teach deaf children, whether our own staff or others who come to learn from our expertise.
Message from the Founder & Director
Hello, my name is Sibaji and I am the Director of the Happy Hands School for the Deaf. Our school is a fully bilingual program, where sign language is of paramount importance and develops alongside writing. As a deaf professional in Education and sign language, I have always dreamed of setting up a school for deaf children and in 2016, I established this school in my rural home village in Odisha, India,
At our school, we welcome deaf children below the age of six and provide them free Education and boarding. Our approach focuses on developing sign language and cognitive abilities, rather than relying on speech and hearing development. I am pleased to see the progress made by the children in the past few years and I am inspired by their development in sign language and cognitive abilities.
Our bilingual approach to deaf education has proven to be a success, and we have been recognized as the “Best School for the Deaf in India” by the India Deaf Expo in Chennai in 2023. This is all because of the hardworking team and the bright children.
As we continue to develop our educational program, we are collecting data and conducting research to better understand the factors and barriers involved. We are committed to making our bilingual program a success and I feel very positive about the future. As deaf people, it is important that we set up initiatives like this ourselves and support each other. However, without support of our promoters, donors, advisors, contributors and well-wishers we would not have come this far. We look for more support to conduct in-depth research into the problem and hope that we become a model school in near future and spread this success to all over India. Thank you for your interest and support for our school.
Our Team
Teaching Learning team
Dr. Sibaji Panda (Deaf)
Director
He has 2 decades of experience working in Deaf Studies, Sign language research, Deaf Education, Applied Linguistics. He was the first teacher of Indian Sign Language teaching in a formal classroom. Have been a senior lecturer in University of Central Lancashire, UK for 10 years and has vast experience from traveling and observing good practices worldwide,
Nirav Pal (Deaf)
Asst. Director
Nirav Pal has worked with us for over 5 years . He is from Gujrat and is one of our Researcher and teacher engaged in research based innovative practice. He is a graduate and currently undergoing Diploma in Education (HI) from MP Bhoj university. He has years of teaching and learning design experience and one of the best talents in innovative teaching.
Jagdish C (Deaf)
Language Tutor
Jagdish has been with us since the day school opened. a dedicated teacher who has done wonders in area of dealing with young children requiring language acquisition. He has eperience teaching in various contexts to both children and adults.
Disha Tank (Deaf)
Assistant Teacher
Disha is from Gujarat and have experience teaching deaf children during COVID 19. She also attnded a training programme of our own in 2021 and have sharpen her skill with teaching learning process in a Trans-disciplinary environment. She teaches in primary section mostly with children who are at early stage of sign language acquisition. Disha is also a good cook and children are influenced by her crafty cooking.
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Gopinath Thanapati (Deaf)
Art and Crafts Teacher
Gopinath is a talented Artist with skills in sketches, water painting, pottery, clay work, bamboo and cane art etc. with experience over two decades he contribute to our artistic teaching in the school. In addition to his main duty he also contribute to organic farming practice to provide foods to the school.
Aditi Digerse (Deaf)
Interpreter cum teacher
Aditi Prior to being appointed as Sign Language Tutor volunteered at Happyhands for six months. She hold a Diploma in Sign Language Teachin and is an expert in working with small children, newly admitted children with no language exposure. She has been an asset to our language resource centre.
Shipra Rani Jaiswal (Deaf)
Sign Language Tutor
Shipra is from Chattisgarh and has completed Diploma in Sign language teaching and continue to do E.Ed special Education diploma.
Vishnu Maya (Deaf)
Teacher (trainee)
Aditi Prior to being appointed as Sign Language Tutor volunteered at Happyhands for six months. She hold a Diploma in Sign Language Teachin and is an expert in working with small children, newly admitted children with no language exposure. She has been an asset to our language resource centre.
Umang Tripathy (Deaf)
Sign Language Tutor
Umang Tripathy is from Uttar Pradesh and has completed Diploma in Indian sign Language Teaching from Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre, New Delhi
Our Team
Admin and Support
Santanu Panda
Head of Admin and Project officer
Santanu Panda is
Kanchan Barik (Deaf)
Head of Catring
Kanchan is a dedicated and talented cook. She is head of catering and supervise day to day meal preparation. She has years of eperience preparing meals for school children. Before joining us she has cooked for even larger school. She is loved by th children and appreciated for good foods.
Urmila Sahu
Child Care
Urmila handles a variety of jobs starting from child care to nursig and nutrition. She also help with kitchen and other wrok when necessary. she is multi skilled and an asset to our school. She is very with early child care services when a new child arrives.
Magsira Pandey
Garden/Agro and Facilities
Magsira is our multi-skilled, Multi-tasked specialist in gardening, vegetation, and providing fruits and vegetables to the schools. in addition he also supervises the campus facilities like water supply, lighting,
Become a volunteer
Join us as volunteer, gain exciting experience
Happy Hands School for the Deaf is seeking for volunteer to assist in teaching and gain experience. Our aim is to prepare more and more deaf youth to become teachers of the deaf. We have two volunteer opening starting July 2023 for 3 months to 6 months.