Inclusion for Children with Disabilities- The Tagore International School

On October 25th, we at Enable Education conducted our first in person advocacy seminar at the Tagore International School, East of Kailash. The event was titled ‘Inclusion for Children with Disabilities’, was expertly curated and conducted by the founder, She alongside her her team of volunteers,  consisting of Ms Avishi Gupta, research head at Enable Education, Ms Geetanshi Mongia, the Events Head, Ms Taanisi Soni, design head and Ms Zareena Batool who is a member of the social media team at Enable Education conducted this seminar.  The event began with an introduction of the founder and project Enable Education by class XI students of Tagore International School. 

This was followed by a dialogue facilitated by Ms Aarushi as she helped the students understand the different forms of discrimination faced by students with disabilities while  sharing her own experiences of the unintentional exclusion she faced by her peers throughout her school and its impact on her mental well being. This was followed by helping the children understand the importance of inclusion and empathy whilst telling them how they can foster an inclusive classroom, simply by asking their peers and friends with disabilities and understanding what they can and cannot do. The highlight of this part of the session was when one of the students was able to answer the question ‘What is the correct term to address a disabled person’. In a society that continues to use euphemistic terms such as specially abled and differently abled, she was able to understand the importance of using correct terminologies. 

The students were then asked to volunteer to read the two comics showed them that also gave them a practical idea of the simplicity of the concept of inclusion. We then gave them a set of practical and simple tips to foster an inclusive classroom. At the end, the students were engaged in an activity to test their understanding of the session where they were asked to draw and illustrate an activity that includes all students. We were able to gauge the impact of the session and their understanding as they came up with some incredible ideas in different setups such as playgrounds and cafeterias. 

The session concluded with the founder’s closing remarks as she once again encouraged the students to not bully those different from them and create a space where everybody has an opinion that they are able to voice. At the end, students from the school presented the vote of thanks.