Khushi is a daycare centre (creche) for children of working mothers, almost all of whom are very poor. It runs from 8 to 6, six days a week. Fees are charged on a sliding scale according to family income.
Children with disability are first assessed in the one-week program at the Doon EIC and then assigned here depending on where they live.

Khushi is part of Astitva , a feminist organization working on women’s economic empowerment in Dehradun. When we joined hands with the creche staff to provide services for poor children with disabilities, we imagined it would work much the way the Mama EIC did, albeit on a more limited basis because the focus at Khushi is typical children.

To our surprise, however, we found that very poor children also have special needs which are often indistinguishable from those of children with diagnosed disabilities. Poor nutrition, unhygienic living conditions, frequent exposure to violence and abuse and parents who are too busy to play or engage in conversation with them produces children with poor language skills, limited social awareness and a general lack of interest in their surroundings, making learning a struggle.

The Khushi program, therefore, is an intense and highly structured one which emphasizes cooperative play, language development, creative self-expression and fine and gross motor development for all children. Those children with specific disabilities get individual attention from a physiotherapist and a special educator, but their exercise and play routines are seamlessly interwoven with those of the group – making Khushi a truly model inclusive EIC.