Sankalp Trust holds its Conference – LEARN 2024 - on inclusion and empowerment of neurodiverse young people

• This year’s LEARN Conference is themed on various aspects of neurodiversity. 

Chennai, September 21, 2024: The Sankalp Trust, as part of the celebrations of 25 years of their operations, are holding their two-day biennial international conference – LEARN ’24. The Chief Guest for the event was Shri M. K. Narayanan, Former National Security Advisor, Govt of India. The objective of this conference is to gain knowledge in including Neurodivergent children and adults into our community.”

(L to R) Sumathi Rajakrishnan – Director of Administration & Vocational Training; Prof. Richard Rose, University of Northampton, UK; M. K. Naryanan, Former National Security Advisor; Lakshmi Krishnakumar, Founder Director, Learning Disability; Subhashini Rao – Founder Emeritus; Dr. Sulata Ajit, Founder-Director, Special Education

In her welcome address, Dr. Sulata Ajit, Founder and Director, Special Education, Sankalp Trust provided some highlights of the 25 years of the Trust and its two schools it runs. “Our Trust runs the Sankalp Open School for children with learning disabilities and the Sankalp Learning Centre and Special Needs School for children with autism spectrum disorders. The biggest challenge that special needs schools face is the dearth of qualified teachers. In Sankalp, we maintain a student to teacher ratio of 8:1 which is key to our efforts. To ensure that we have the teachers to meet our requirements, we established a Diploma of Education (intellectual and Developmental disability) course, certified by the Rehabilitation Council of India, in 2023. We are hopeful that this course will provide us, and other special needs schools, with high quality people.” 

Youtube video link 👇 

Ms. Lakshmi Krishnakumar, Founder and Director, Learning Disability, in her address said, “The Conference will address critical areas such as livelihood opportunities, workplace inclusion, coping strategies, role of technology and inclusive education. It is aimed at training and empowering all stakeholders like special educators, mainstream teachers, parents and caregivers. 

The major themes being highlighted at the Conference are

• learning opportunities through allied arts
• livelihood opportunities for young adults with development disabilities
• workplace inclusion for the neurodivergent
• enhancing the lives of neurodiverse through innovation and technology 
• strategies to support neurodiverse students

The Chief Guest, Shri M.K. Narayanan, in his address said, “Inclusive education not only benefits those with special needs but enriches the learning environment for students. We must advocate for policies and practices that support individuals with special needs. A society where individuals care for one another is stronger, more resilient and better equipped to face multiple challenges. We must be active citizens, participating in the civic life of our communities by advocating for positive change and giving back through volunteering, mentoring and supporting causes that make a difference.”

The event also saw the launch of the India Inclusion Research Network (IIRN), a forum that promotes and mentors researchers in the field of disability rehabilitation with specific focus on inclusion. Sankalp and the IIRN plan to collaborate in the near future to do research in areas of inclusion in disability rehabilitation.

In his address, Dr. Himangshu Das, Member Secretary IIRN, said that there is hardly any indigenous research in this field and there is good scope for qualitative and mixed method research work. The establishment of the IIRN is to help promote publications and dissemination of quality research work through collaboration with institutions in India and abroad. 

Among the key speakers at the event are Prof. Richard Rose from the University of Northampton, UK and Dr. Orla Slattery from the Mary Immaculate College from the Republic of Ireland. 

In his keynote address, Prof. Rose said that he was encouraged by some good partnerships between Government, NGOs and private enterprises in work on inclusion and also by the involvement of parents in direct teaching of their children under teacher guidance. He added that inclusion needs special educators to share their successes and show empathy to their mainstream teaching colleagues and guide them towards inclusive teaching. He urged the special teaching community to reach out to community groups and other professionals to recruit them to the cause to ensure that inclusion is on the forefront of everyone’s agenda. 

Other speakers include some of the major institutions and organizations in India who work on issues of neurodiversity.

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