Education & Therapy Centre

Services currently provided at ETC are divided into four main categories, namely:

• Academic subjects: Foundation Class, Numeracy and Literacy
• Extra-curricular activities: Activities of Daily Living, Arts and Crafts, Circle Time, Cookery, Dance and Music, Gardening, Physical Education, Storytelling, Thematic Outings
• Therapy & Rehabilitation: Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy and Psychology
• Training and Counselling of Parents

Education & Therapy Centre (ETC) is a centre which was set up for children with special needs. In Mauritius, parents of these children face unimaginable problems:

• A mainstream school that is unwilling to admit their child because it lacks the physical infrastructure and accessibility within the school environment.
• The teaching staff of a mainstream school does not have the knowledge or skills to deliver an adapted curriculum.
• With the normal workload, a teacher has no extra time to give to a child with special needs.
• Learning resources and educational materials are made for normal children only.
• Parents require time off work to take their child to the different therapists for special care.
• Parents find it difficult to struggle between their work and the need to give education and therapy to their child.
• And above all their problems, financial insecurity brings unnecessary stress.

As a result, a group of professionals and parents made the commitment to provide such children with a tailored programme aimed at developing their intellectual potential. This programme is enhanced by appropriate therapy treatment. This model of seamless integrated care supports the long-term view of enabling the children to join the normal mainstream of pupils so that they are offered the opportunity to reach their full potential whilst acquiring maximum independence.

ETC started its activities on 15th January 2008 in the hall of the Holy Trinity Church. Its aims were to:

• Provide specialist academic assistance to children with special needs that deny them access to mainstream schools
• Provide therapy and rehabilitation to facilitate all areas of social, physical, intellectual and emotional development
• Enable and foster skills in independent living
• Provide a nurturing environment where children are valued and enabled to reach their full potential
• Promote equal opportunity in all areas of the curriculum

With the increasing number of beneficiaries, the hall no longer offered the appropriate infrastructure and on 11th January 2011, ETC had to move to a rented house in Roches Brunes. At long last, as from 12th January 2015, it moved to its own premises at corner Ambrose & Maurice l’Hoste Streets, Rose Hill.

• To provide academic assistance to children having a physical impairment that denies them access to normal schools
• To provide therapy and rehabilitation to these children so that they may grow up into adults who have acquired maximum independence
• To provide a growing environment conducive to develop these children to their full potential
• To give these children equal opportunity of acquiring academic knowledge

Vision

• Accompany children with disabilities on their path to independence

Mission

• Strive effortlessly to provide education and therapy to handicapped children

Engagement Chart

• Be responsive to the children’s needs
• Give quality, relevant and effective education and therapy to the children
• Provide a safe and supportive environment to the children, their parents and the staff
• Provide support and help to the children’s families
• Be innovative in our approach
• Provide continuous professional development to staff and health professionals of Mauritius

Beneficiaries who:

• Are now employed as driver's assistant, mason, cleaner 
• Are toilet-trained and independent in daily living activities
• Are able to walk on their own 
• Can live independently
• Can communicate verbally or using pictos

• SENA
• NSIF
• Individual sponsorships