Semyonovskaya corrective boarding school is the only school for children with hearing impairment in the Republic of Mari El. Thanks to the daily efforts and dedication of the school’s experienced faculty, hearing impaired students not only acquire basic secondary education but also get supplementary vocational training, which enables them to develop their creative potential and, in the end, successfully integrate into the mainstream society. All the teachers want to see their young charges accepted and understood in the “big world,” awaiting them after graduation.

The school is almost 80 years old. Originally, it opened as a local school for deaf children in 1930, in the small town of Kozmodemyansk, in the building that used to function as an orphanage. In 1963, the school moved to the village of Semyonovka, Medvedevsky region. Today the school serves as an experimental site of a research institute, which has enabled it to implement the program of integrated learning for deaf children on the elementary level. The school also hosts republican seminars in special education and academic and applied research conferences for educators from all over the country.

In 2002, thanks to the assistance of Project Harmony, Inc., the school was able to equip its own computer class and begin incorporating computer technologies into teaching and learning. Currently the Internet access and training center of Semyonovskaya corrective boarding school is part of the IDEA Centers network and boasts eight computer stations. It offers training courses, seminars and workshops aimed at training students to use computer and Internet technologies for school and work.