“Mam, would you
mind using the word “Progeny”? Progeny not only means children, but offspring
of animals, plants and anything alive. My suggestion to use this word was well
received when I spoke on Inclusive Education for children with disabilities, in
the UN last year (April 2016). And inclusiveness is a broader term and my
understanding of the same is evolving”.
The above is the reply of 18 year old Swarnalakshmi, to my question on inclusiveness, who has represented India for the fourth time in the UN and who is currently pursuing her second year B.A Political Science in MCC Chennai. She is also the PM of Inclusive National Children’s Parliament (INCP) and member of Youth Parliament, which is in its Council stage.
The above is the reply of 18 year old Swarnalakshmi, to my question on inclusiveness, who has represented India for the fourth time in the UN and who is currently pursuing her second year B.A Political Science in MCC Chennai. She is also the PM of Inclusive National Children’s Parliament (INCP) and member of Youth Parliament, which is in its Council stage.
For
Swarnalakshmi, inclusiveness is not a mere term, but a journey of several years. Her first seed for
inclusiveness started from her. “Disabilities cannot retard me in any way. I
always think “What next?” in any situation. And I never want to be viewed
special or pitied for being visually challenged”. Her self-esteem exudes as she talks.
2014, was a year
of struggle for her. She wanted to pursue her studies taking political science
in a main stream school. But the then CM of Pondicherry would rather make any
other school of her choice a special one. She politely but firmly declined the
offer.
She said, “With
92% marks in my 10th Standard, I decided to choose Political Science
for further studies. But getting admission in the main stream school was not
easy. Can a person with disability, be prevented from doing mainstream
education? While speaking to the CM, I mentioned about the law in the
constitution that allows children with disabilities to have mainstream
education. This strengthened my question, “WHY no inclusion?”
Her leadership
travels to the UN started off with zest, after she was rejected in the
Mauritius Common Wealth Interview, in 2012. Her honest answer to the question,
what if she was not given a seat while she was travelling in a bus, made her
lose the opportunity. The answer was “No difference”, true to her
conscience. She might have failed to
impress the judges, but not her mom, Lakshmi Devi,
who foresaw, a big opportunity. And her mom was right! Starting from 2013 till
last year she had been the special invitee to the UN, to give talks on
inclusive education. Swarnalakshmi relates this incident as one that turned
over a new leaf in her life. It gave a larger perspective of her life.
Public speaking is
an art that requires good language and communication skills. While
Swarnalakshmi attributes her language skills to her father Raviduraikannu, she
attributes her confidence to her mother. As part of
Children Parliament and the Youth Parliament council, she and her team have
addressed various social issues.
“Thanks to Father
Edwin, I was able to travel from concepts to reality, when he brought to my
attention about a labour case concerning child Bhavani from Dharmapuri. For the first
time I became aware of the severity of ill-treatment meted out to women and
children. Through our child parliament we extricated her from her perilous
state and today she attends conferences in Delhi. Also we enabled her mother to get a Ration card, by giving a
petition to an eminent person and thus the curtain went down on her 13 years of
prolonged ordeal”.
She replied, “Confidence and leadership“,
when I asked her to define herself succinctly. But in my opinion I look up on
her as one having, Integrity of thought, speech and action. Also this achiever
encourages women to enter politics without being subservient to oppressive
powers. As our
conversation went on, I understood she is a multi talented personality. Music
has been a fascination for her which many of the Lit The Light members are aware of. Her list continues with Chess,
keyboard and swimming too.
Here is the list
of awards which are no doubt, feathers on her already embellished cap.
Year
|
Award
|
Awarded by
|
2013
|
Young Achiever
|
Chutti Vikatan
|
Little Phoenix
|
||
2014
|
Child Leader
|
Mugil Social Welfare
|
Malala Award
|
||
2015
|
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Award
|
|
Living Hellen Keller
|
Lion’s club
|
|
Mega Women’s Achiever Award
|
Mega TV
|
Watching a plant grow is more fascinating than the plant itself, because, you get to see many of the beautiful sunshine moments.An hour long interview with SwarnaLakshmi was truly rewarding and the above aptly describes my spirits in knowing a real leader getting shaped, true to the title of this article.
I wish her all
the best on behalf of Lit The Light,
in all her endeavors, including improving her water intake and going to bed
early, that she considers as her areas of improvement!
Below are few links on Children Parliament and Swarnalakshmi:
Below are few links on Children Parliament and Swarnalakshmi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCWND7uKtjI
– UN talk 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUK3iViK0hI
– Interview to Sun TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9C2j9LvHD0
– RedPix Interview
http://blog.kindernothilfe.org/de/archives/3403
- I too have a dream
http://www.childrenparliament.in/
- About Children Parliament
Article by Anuradha
