Aamir Khan’s 'Taare...' will help educate teachers

S Selva Kumar, the state’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) project director, said that permission to dub Taare Zameen Par in Kannada ahead of screening it in government schools across the state, has to be sought from Aamir Khan. Khan produced and directed the film. The SSA has sought the help of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce for the purpose of dubbing the film, Kumar said.

Statistics available at the SSA show that there are 1,32,297 children with disability in the state’s schools. Of these, 43,308 have learning disabilities. Government schools are ill-equipped to deal with the needs of these children as there is a dearth of teachers trained to deal with special children. One way to make teachers more sensitive to the needs of these children is to show them a movie like Taare Zameen Par, a teacher said.

“We want our teachers to handle children with disability with greater sensitivity and encouragement. We would like to send out a message that these children too have unique abilities, and the teachers could act as catalysts in nurturing these talents,” said Selva Kumar.

SSA officials hope to seek an audience with Khan this week, as he is in the city shooting for his forthcoming film Three Idiots.