Mangaluru: The Chethana Child Development Centre, a unit of Seva Bharathi, will be celebrating its silver jubilee at Town Hall in Mangaluru on February 17.

Addressing a press meet, Seva Bharathi trustee Sumathi Shenoy said that Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, Rama Krishna Mutt president Swami Jithakamananda, Director of Public Instruction, Secondary Education Philomena Lobo and Nitte Deemed to be University VC Dr Sathish Bhandary will be the chief guests.

She said that a team of women in Mannagudde came together to start Chethana Centre in 1993 to work towards the betterment of society. Through the centre, an effort was made to bring differently abled children to the mainstream of the society.

Initially, it was social worker Indumathi Rao who guided us in visiting 35,000 households in the city to identify differently abled children. Then DDPI Philomena Lobo extended her help to the centre and gave permission for the Chethana Centre to be opened at Gandhi Nagara and Attavar Government School.

Later, with the efforts of Narayana Bhakta and Narayana Shenoy, the two centres were shifted to Bala Maruthi Vyayama Mandali building. “When we faced financial crunch, it was Prakash Beedi’s Shankar Prabhu who stood by us. ICICI Bank president K V Kamath too supported the centre,” Vinod Shenoy said.

At present, the centre has 93 children, with 41 mentally challenged, 18 suffering from Down Syndrome and 11 are autistic The day care centre offers physiotherapy, speech therapy, cpmputer education, pre primary education, skill training, she said and added that a day care centre will be started in Ullal shortly.

The centre has incorporated technology such as smart classes and appointed 35 teachers including physiotherapists to treat and train the children.

There are plans to start temporary stay home for differently abled children, rehabilitation for elders who are suffering from mental illness and rehabilitation for differently abled seniors through Seva Bharathi, Sumathi said.

At present, the Seva Bharathi runs a day care centre with the help of the government for Endosulfan victims at Koila and Kokkada. Five more such centres for endosulfan vitims will be started in the district, she added.