Shaurya Foundation Trust is a Non Profit Organisation that provides a balanced education defined by a joyful pursuit of excellence in functional academics, athletics, arts and service for persons with special needs. The Foundation is funded by the Chairman, Mr Ravi Gupta who is running the Independent Living – Residential Skill Development along with Training & Sports Facility at Palwal, Haryana. Situated in the lush green main Delhi-Agra highway measuring about 3,600 square yards having superstructure with about 49,000 sq. ft. covered area spread over in 6 floors. Besides this there is an outdoor sports facility of about 14,520 square yards. SFT’s skilling centre is situated amidst the heart of Delhi in Maharani Bagh.
SFT is a diverse community that enables each student to be an inspired, lifelong learner and a responsible, compassionate global citizen. The core belief of the Shaurya Foundation revolves not only towards educating people with special needs but also preparing them to be self-su cient for their future venture while strengthening them with life skills. The essence of the Foundation is inspired by the parents of a child with autism, Mr Ravi & Mrs Rani Gupta’s vision towards contributing to the society. They ideated and initiated an ecosystem that could have individuals from across the disabilities spectrum who could complete each other harmoniously under one roof. Being a parent of a child with special needs has taught them that trying is more valuable than achieving and persistent e ort always leads towards success.
It is incredible to witness how an adult with hearing impairment could train and manage a team of IT professionals and a person with learning disabilities works with bakers with Down Syndrome in the baking unit. Individual with Down Syndrome can communicate, while those with Autism have the innate ability to produce and perform repetitive activities- they turn out to be great bakers and data entry specialists. Every student is analysed in this manner to understand and assess their strengths and make use of them in the best way possible. They fit together beautifully like a perfect piece of puzzle, forming a functional environment that could perform a perfect business model at the end of the day. Many would believe that academic skills for people with special needs are solely for recreation and keeping them busy. However, SFT has been a place where students are inspired to use those skills for a greater good: to represent our community, to lift our reputation as special students, and to join an unencountered symposium of generating employment opportunities for the community as a whole. The hallmark of SFT education is to present students with as many opportunities as possible. Each member feels grateful for the resources that it o ers to students for them to become better and stronger.
Apart from the life skill training at the Independent Living programme, holistic programs are formulated which helps in fulfilling the workforce needs of the Nation and further open the sectors to persons with disabilities that they have been excluded from. Shaurya Foundation is working in the following sectors of employment generation :
The students at SFT are skilled to ensure mainstreaming at Home, Work and Community. It is a Foundation who is wholeheartedly working from moving away from welfare towards empowerment, thus resonating with the ideology of ‘Dignity over charity’. The educators at SFT strongly believe in persons with intellectual challenge and their abilities and that all they need is someone to facilitate them in unearthing and harnessing their capabilities. This vision has helped the whole team excelling in all focus areas be it creating open employment opportunities; promoting inclusion; launching self-sustainable businesses or independent living solutions programmes. The whole idea of viewing disability as a matter of perception and an inability to see the ability has helped the team in not only creating opportunities but also ensuring respect for the skills that they deserve in every forum. At SFT every day is dedicated towards the defence of the rights and equal opportunities of people with special needs and recognizing them as a valuable resource in the workforce.