Amongst the scores of people who ran last week’s Half-Marathon, there possibly couldn’t have been anyone more excited than Shaloo Sharma. She was at the Marathon with 14 of her students from her school Pallavanjali, an institute that aims to train children with special needs along with other children. “I took the entire class of interns from Pallavanjali for the Marathon. I did not select or reject any of them because I strongly feel that all kids can do anything if they are made to believe in themselves,” says Sharma, who has been working with children with special needs for the past seven years and specialises in art therapy.

For Sharma, who has been advocating inclusive education in schools across Delhi and NCR, the Half-Marathon was the kind of event that would not only boost the children’s morale but also put into practice what Pallavanjali believes in. “There is a need for inclusion within inclusion, a platform for these children to be able to fulfill their potential, across all barriers—age, sex, location, economic and most importantly, social barriers,” says Sharma who ensures that the students at Pallavanjali are trained not only for an event like the Half-Marathon but for life itself.

The 14 children were given no specific training for the marathon but what helped them greatly was their regular participation in activities such as rafting, camping, treks, other adventure sports and the CAN SUPPORT run that they had previously been part of. “These kids are more open and enthusiastic and eager than most neurotypical kids, they don’t get bored. They’ve been participating in activities for months and were prepared to push themselves for the Half-Marathon,” says Sharma.

Participating in the Half-Marathon was not a stunt or an event that Sharma and the kids wanted to use merely to send a message across. “There were interns from Pallavanjali and some children from the parent support group that I am a part of. The idea was to expose the kids to an experience, one that was tremendous,” says Sharma who is thankful to actor Shah Rukh Khan for appearing at the event—his presence motivated the most reluctant girls in her team. The children not only ran the Half-Marathon but for one of the rare times in their lives, were part of an event that saw nearly 20,000 people participate, a gamut of news channels covering every aspect of the run and most importantly, ran for themselves and their own cause. “They leant what it was to represent themselves, to carry a banner proudly and hold it up with reverence, all the way,” says Sharma.