(A report by Pooja Rangaprasad, on the ILP Partners Meet held in Aug 2009 in Bangalore, India)
How easy it is to label things and get carried away by the implications of that label. A ‘Partners Meet’ must clearly be for our NGO ‘Partners’. The themes and discussions must be beneficial to their work and from a development perspective. It would probably help them to work more effectively for the marginalized sections of the society. Ergo, if you are not a partner or working in this field, this might probably be of little relevance. I think this attitude probably sums up why problems never get solved in our country. .. Because we never think of ourselves as part of the solution.
This partner’s meet was about ‘Inclusive Education’ and ‘Child Participation’. Are these really just relevant only for child rights activists? And of course the ‘government’, our favorite target for anything and everything. With the term conveniently meaning a set of people somewhere in the periphery disconnected from us of course.
Sitting over the three days at the workshop, and learning so much I never knew, I couldn’t help but wonder why I came into this thinking it would be beneficial only from a point of view of my work. I probably took away more for myself personally. I remember wishing there were more non-partners- parents, students, mentors- privy to the thought provoking presentations and discussions.
Not so we could empower others but ourselves.
How many of us, as students, have really looked around to see if our colleges and schools were/are disable friendly? While dropping off your child to school or attending a PTA meet, do you think about inclusive education? Is the same school practicing that?
Do we know what effective child participation means? Is it being practiced in our own homes with our own children? None of these issues will be tackled effectively if we don’t stop labeling and delegating the responsibility of solving it to ‘them’. Them- the government. Them- the NGOs. Them- the activists.
What about you and me?
— Pooja