Member of Parliament of India Visits Harry Watts Academy

Main photo, L-R: Parent Vijayalakshmi Subramani, parent Dr. Selvakumar Ramachandran, M. M. Abdulla, Louise Hindmarch.

Last week, a Member of Parliament of India, M. M. Abdulla, visited Harry Watts Academy. M. M. Abdulla is an advocate for inclusion of people with disabilities and special educational needs (SEN) in India, and is friends with the parents of a pupil at Harry Watts Academy who accompanied him on his tour of the school.

Headteacher Louise Hindmarch lead the tour, where M. M. Abdulla commended the support provided to children with SEN. He praised the teachers for their dedication and care in supporting children with SEN and creating a nurturing and inclusive learning environment. M. M. Abdulla noted that the provisions were exemplary and provided valuable insights to inform his efforts to implement similar support systems in his home state of Tamil Nadu.

M. M. Abdulla has helped build a pre-school centre in his local area, Pudukkottai, for children with SEN which he has designed to be inclusive and accessible. It is also the first pre-school centre in Pudukkottai built with these comprehensive facilities, which he believes serves as a model for other schools in Tamil Nadu and India.

Headteacher Louise Hindmarch said: "We were delighted to welcome M. M. Abdulla to Harry Watts Academy and discuss how our pathways support the learning and development of all pupils. I hope that M. M. Abdulla will be able to take some of what he saw at Harry Watts Academy, to support the development of specialist education in Tamil and across India."