In a YouTube video of a little less than two minutes, 23-year-old Rucha Shere and her parents speak on the role played by a family and community in raising a child with disability. The video has over 100 ‘views’ in a month reaching out to Rucha with queries and appreciation. Rucha, a girl with Down’s Syndrome, is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Sanskrit at a city college. Hers is probably one of the finest examples that FAQforEdu, a recently launched web portal, has shot along with 120-odd videos.

The other videos include parents of children with disabilities, interviews of educationists, doctors, lawyers, and others who are contributing to education.

An initiative by 28-year old Pallavi Lotlikar, a project coordinator at Saraswati Mandir Trust, which advocates inclusive education and helps children in admission, retention and completion of elementary education — a norm under the Right to Education Act — is gradually gaining momentum. Lotlikar, a doctor by profession, turned to education four years back. Since then, she has been working with a special focus on disability.

“FAQforEDU is an initiative to help citizens, parents and teachers educate India. We will have answers to all your questions related to education and could even help you make that difference,” Lotlikar says. She adds that any individual who influences a child’s education can benefit from the website.

At a time when education-related information available online is fragmented, FAQforEDU promises to answer any question related to children’s right to education.

Lotlikar, along with her mother Medha Lotlikar, ran two schools — Tulips, which shot to fame after the movie Taare Zameen Par and Saraswati Mandir for mentally challenged children. The schools shut this year in May in tandem with the RTE Act which advocated inclusive education.

For the initial round of interviews for FAQforEdu, Lotlikar focussed on disability related issues.

In the next round of interviews, Lotlikar will deal with minority schools. “We plan to focus on minority schools and the issues of quotas in these schools in the next phase,” Lotlikar added.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home / by Sukanya Shantha / Sunday – August 11th, 2013