Children's summit focuses on disability, inclusivity, education

Bengaluru: The Children Inclusive Summit 2023 that was inaugurated on Saturday saw nearly 200 children, special educators, NGO staff and members of school development management boards gather at the Palana Bhavan in the city to discuss issues related to disability, inclusion, and education, among other topics. 

Organised by The Association of People with Disability’s (APD) policy advocacy team, the two-day summit will include workshops and cultural programmes aiming to help children from over 20 schools understand the challenges of people with disabilities, child rights to education, health, inclusion and accessibility.

On Saturday, children were assigned topics, such as inclusive education, communication and language to make presentations facilitated by resource persons spread over two days. Participating children would be regarded as disability representatives and inclusion champions.

Shiva C Hiremath, Director, APD, advocated for mutual awareness and societal growth in equal parity and discussed the importance of including lessons on inclusivity and accessibility in regular education course material. He acknowledged the role students with disabilities played in contributing to the nation’s development and outlined the program’s dual focus on awareness and activities, and fostering a healthy, inclusive community.

Vishnu, an alumnus of Shradhanjali Integrated School, and Vishal, a student of Ajax Government Public School, shared their collective experiences about the difficulties they experienced with accessibility and expressed gratitude for the workshop that helped them overcome some of the hurdles they experienced.