Our Correspondent
Kohima | October 30
A three day Zonal Children’s Parliament of Regional Action on Inclusive Education for North East India (RAISE NE) partner 15 schools along with SSA schools of Nagaland entered second day here today.
This zonal meet is being held under the aegis of Cherry Blossoms Society, Kohima in collaboration with RAISE NE at State Academy Hall, Kohima.
Altogether five north eastern states, Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland are taking part in the event, which will go on till October 31.
According to the concept note “RAISE your Hand for Inclusion” is a campaign initiated to highlight the importance and need of inclusive education in the current educational system “where we bring focus back to the learning needs or all children including children with disability irrespective of their caste, color, creed, religion, status wherein they can learn, grow, play and study together in the same class room through reasonable accommodation, modification and adaptation to suit the needs of diverse learners.”
With children being the primary stakeholder, RAISE — North East strives to build capacity and empower children through the children's parliament with rights-based, creative practice, to empower younger children from diverse backgrounds know their rights and entitlements and give opportunities to share their experiences, thoughts and feelings so that they can express and influence positive change in their lives at home, in school and in the community and become advocates in the mould of champions for change.
This three day Zonal meeting (October 29, 30 and 31) is a culmination of the various ICP sessions and the other activities held at the local level. This includes workshop on children parliament for the first two days where children will learn to be self advocates and to voice opinion in public platform, media houses and interaction with policy makers. The main focus will be geared towards capturing their voices and expectation of the education system.
The three day Zonal meet will focus on the campaign on “RAISE Your Hand for Inclusion” by seeking pledge and support from stakeholders that No Child is left behind in the Educational System. On October 31, children’s parliament cum parent day and inclusive singing competition will take place from 9:00 am onwards.
Nagaland’s disability commissioner Dr. Atha Vizol will grace the occasion. Welcome address will be delivered by D. Adani, President Cherry Blossoms Society.
Other speakers will include: Merangtsungba Aier, Director Social Welfare, Steve Rocha, PRATEK, New Delhi, Anita Alexander (CMB), Bangalore, Kamraj, Sp. Education, NIEPMD Chennai and Bibhu Sahu, Project Director, RAISE NE.
It may be recalled that RAISE Northeast, for providing holistic support to children with special needs, was also launched in Nagaland in 2016.
It is a project initiated to complement the programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan on inclusive education to improve the quality of education for children with disabilities in government and government-supported schools in selected districts of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura.
