Chennai, Feb 4 (Reporter) The Southern Railway has organised a picnic to Chennai Rail Museum for Ashraya School Special children run by it. The Ashraya, a school for Special children, was run by Southern Railway Women’s Welfare Organisation in Chennai , Railway sources said. This Organisation is led by Ms Sonia Singh, who is very compassionate about the needs and welfare of special children. She arranged an outing for these Ashraya kids to Chennai Rail Museum. The children were overjoyed to ride the toy train and walked through the museum gallery enthusiastically. Ms Sonia, along with the other office bearers of the organization, distributed refreshments and gift to children. Ashraya, a school cum vocational training centre, exclusively run for the special children was started on February 8, 1993. Offering individualized educational programme for children from the age of six years, the main objective of this institution is to make these special children independent and self reliant by emphasizing on self help skills, academics, pre-vocational skills and vocational training. The programme base for these special children is IEP – Individualised Educational Programme. Yoga, play therapy, arts and crafts and vocational training form part of the extra-curricular activities. The staff of Ashraya is qualified specially to impart education to these children. Ashraya offers vocational training for children aged 16 years and above in making chalk, envelopes, files, phenyl, covers, diyas, bouquets and candles. The sale proceeds of the products are disbursed among the students as an incentive and as a token of the Organisation’s efforts to make them self reliant and independent. The students of Ashraya have proved that given the right kind of atmosphere and training, they can not only be self sufficient but can also excel in the field of computer education, sports, arts and crafts. At present, 30 special children are studying at Ashraya Special School, Railway officials said...////...