Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Educational Institutions Breaking Barriers celebrated the 4th anniversary of the repealing of Sec 377 on 6th September 2022 by organizing and conducting an Educators Workshop on “Inclusion Matters” – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Educational Institutions. Close to 40 educators  including  counsellors , teachers  and  Vice Principals attended this workshop which was supported by the High Commission of Canada. The session had opening remarks by Mr Colin Shonk, Counsellor and Head of Advocacy Program from the Canadian Embassy, and talks by Atindra, Counselor and Legal Advisor for NAZ Foundation and Kiran, Transgender Model and Actress.As educators are the catalysts of change so the aim of this workshop was to engage educators in discussions on greater inclusion in  classrooms via activities, social experiments, class discussions, art, films, and more. Educators brainstormed ideas, asked questions and took these thoughts back to their schools. We hope that they now work on creating inclusive school policies and create comfortable, safe space for their students and staff in their campus. All the educators gave positive feedback and wanted our campaigners to visit their schools to initiate the Breaking Barriers campaign in their schools. That students conducted the workshop and that lgbt+ guests shared their experiences was what impressed them most.All participants received certificates from the Canadian Embassy and from our school.

Disha is  an annual event organized by Project Saksham,  a student led initative  of Tagore International School Vasant Vihar,  which  aims to sensitize society especially the  youth.   In June 2022, over the course of three days, young people  who are  intellectually challenged, took part in various competitions organized by the volunteers of Project Saksham. These events boost the confidence of such youngsters and give them an opportunity to display their talents. Their art work, music, photography skills, food art and gardening efforts were all much appreciated by the judges and audience. Certificates of participation and appreciations were given to the participants. We received over 200 entries and all were unique in their own way. The judges commented that it was a tough competition but for them everyone went home a winner. The volunteers (Tishya Chandok, Gurmaan Singh,Vrinda Arora, Saanvi Awasthy,Viniti Sabharwal and Lavanika Nanda and others ) were delighted to see the smiles of their  intellectually challenged friends. Disha 5.0 was indeed a special event which once again highlighted  the service mindset and social outreach of TIS,VV.

Students of the school Eco Club project TerraTime, visited Samarpan School, in Vasant Kunj on 15th July 2022 to conduct a workshop on the management of plastic. TerraTime is an initiative to collect non-recyclable plastic and create eco-bricks out of them, which is then used to make furniture, such as tables and stools. Our students sensitized Samarpan School students from grades 4 to 6 about the ill effects of plastic and demonstrated how to make eco-bricks. The children from Samarpan were excited when each group made their own eco-bricks! They were enthused by the prospect of making their own eco-brick stools , chairs and other creative innovations at their own homes and in their school.  An eco brick stool made by us was also presented to them.

Another impactful Gender Sensitization Workshop was conducted by Breaking Barriers campaigners for Soami Nagar Model School students of grades 9 to 12 on 16th July 2022. Our enthusiastic students are eager to create similar resource groups in other educational institutions.The workshop was conducted in collaboration with the High Commission of Canada , in two batches of one hour each, with more than a hundred students benefiting from this workshop. The workshop started with a short talk and video by the Deputy High Commissioner of Canada, Ms Amanda Strohan highlighting why such workshops are extremely important at youth level.Breaking Barriers is a youth level social initiative based on United Nations Sustainable Development Goal no. 4, Gender Equality. The focus of this sensitization workshop was: to reduce bullying and discrimination that happens at educational level. to spread awareness on human rights, equal opportunities and lgbt rights to raise empathetic humans who respect diversity in all forms and create a inclusive and just world for all to open dialogue and foster open mindedness right from a young age to offer a platform that allows conversations that were long treated as stereotypes