Fifteen-year-old Eiduha Iqbal has become an overnight sensation, thanks to a viral video on Twitter that shows her reporting on the heavy snowfall in her state.
Sea of Symptoms. Recognizing early signs of autism #WorldAutismDay
The Mukta Gyan Kutira prefers teaching students through activities such as storytelling, action songs and rhyme-recitation to reorder the process of schooling.
Little Humans is a volunteer driven photo-project based on the belief that the littlest people have the biggest stories to tell. You can contribute too. Follow us on instagram and facebook to know more.
1. We live in a country that speaks multiple languages, and our national language is Hindi. How fluently do you speak Hindi?
Speaking fluent Hindi depends on place to place. Earlier, I used to live in Ranchi and people spoke Hindi quite fluently and accurately but in Mumbai, I noticed that Hindi is not spoken that properly and it’s mixed with the local language. I speak fluent Hindi and it is my go-to language to converse with my friends or anyone I’d like to speak to. And it feels very friendly when you speak to someone in our national language.
2. What are the merits and demerits of studying in English medium school vs a Hindi medium school?
I believe that studying in an English medium school is more or less related to your social development and it definitely betters your spoken English. However, it diverts us from our national language, Hindi because it does not remain the main language. So it doesn’t matter whether you’re studying in English medium school or a Hindi medium school or if you’re learning things in any other language as long as you are studying properly and gaining knowledge. But you really feel the difference when you’re grown up and start looking for a job as many companies advocate English as the best way to interact with anyone globally.
3. Most people co-relate speaking fluent English with a good education, resulting in a brighter career in the future. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Well, it’s true that speaking fluent English and brighter career are related nowadays but I really disagree with this co-relation because we can’t judge a person with one aspect just like we can’t judge a book by its cover. Maybe that person could be a maestro or skilled in any other job. Why do we need to look down upon an individual who’s learnt the same things we have but just in a different language or precisely in our national language, Hindi? It is time to shed those judgy looks and break this language stereotype and embrace the language of our land, Bharat.
Priyansh is 16 years old and is a student of Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir, Mumbai.
Little Humans is a volunteer driven photo-project based on the belief that the littlest people have the biggest stories to tell. You can contribute too. Follow us on instagram and facebook to know more.
1. What do you want to become when you grow up?
When I was in 5th grade, I wanted to become an Army officer and then in 8th grade, I started liking Science. But it was only in 10th grade, that I figured out what I actually want to study and become later on in life. So, after my board results, I spent a fair amount of time reading and researching various streams and even visited career counsellors to help filter out my choices. And after all the permutations, I decided to take up Humanities.
That decision raised a lot of eyebrows.
2. Many children nowadays want to pursue careers in the creative field, and not taken on traditional professions like engineers, doctors and lawyers. How encouraging do you think parents, teachers and schools are about these alternate career choices?
Even today, Science trends as the most favoured and sought after career choice amongst Indian parents for their children to pursue after 10th grade. And maybe its understandable given the career options it allows?
I believe knowledge plays a very key role in deciding one’s career choices…especially the knowledge of parents. Since my parents were aware of Humanities and were familiar with the subject, they were very supportive in my decision to take it up. But some of my friends weren’t that fortunate. Few of my friends wanted to study Music and Arts but had to eventually take up Science because of parental pressure and a great amount of competition.
3. Do you think children are receiving the right guidance and direction to pursue careers in creative fields? How not? How so?
No, not always. What I urge parents, families and societies to do, is to be open and receptive to alternate career choices for their children. Ask questions and understand why your child is making that choice…build your knowledge on the subject to be able to provide informed guidance to children. And for my friends…follow your dreams…! It is okay sometimes to unfollow the trends and be a trailblazer instead.
Puruijit is 16 years old and is currently studying Humanities at Christ College, Bengaluru and wants to pursue a Masters in Economics to become a Financial Analyst.
Little Humans is a volunteer driven photo-project based on the belief that the littlest people have the biggest stories to tell. You can contribute too. Follow us on instagram and facebook to know more.
1. Do you understand what one means by ‘disability’?
Why do we always view ‘disability’ as a physical or mental limitation, that hinders our thoughts, movements, senses, or daily activities? Don’t we all feel crippled at times in our life? I’ve always viewed persons with disabilities as specially-abled. Unlike most of us living an average, normal lives, specially-abled people go to school, work, have families, laugh, cry, play like everyone else despite certain disabilities. Doesn’t that mean they are more special? Why then does the world see persons with disabilities as a liability?
2. Do any children in your class have disabilities? Tell us about it.
So, one of my friends in school has just finished giving his board exams. He is a specially-abled boy – he can walk, but he is slow and often needs a helping hand. He can write but not very quick. But he is very intelligent. And he loves drawing.
3. How does your school cater to the needs of children with disabilities? Narrate an incident.
Since we were doing our boards, my school took the initiative to arrange a scribe (from amongst 8th and 9th-grade students) to write down his answers during exams. All of us were involved in helping him out during exams. This was a great example set up by my school to bring a positive attitude towards disability and promote inclusiveness.
Our school has been very supportive since the beginning… from the school management, to the school helpers who carry him and his belongings to class everyday, to even his classmates and friends… we all are involved in helping him whenever needed.
4. What must schools in India do to make the future of children with disabilities more secure? With the elections coming soon, how do you think the Government can help to make schools more inclusive for disabled children?
While there are a few schools like mine, we as a nation have a long way to go. First and foremost, people’s attitudes towards specially-abled people and children needs to shift from sympathy and pity to empathy.
Secondly, the government needs to work towards ensuring barrier-free spaces and environments for the learning of students with disabilities. That will begin by simply taking a step to ensure that there is no separate classroom for specially-abled students, instead integrate them into the mainstream.
Additionally, more funds should be allocated by the government to schools to make them disabled-friendly like building ramps and separate toilets…that’s how we can really build inclusive and child-friendly schools. The only reservation we as Indians, should demand currently is for specially-abled … be it in schools, institutions or at workplaces. And that would be an Inclusive India, in the true sense.
Bharadwaj is 14 years old and is currently studying in 10th grade at Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir, Mumbai.
“Prolific and perceptive” is how the New York Times describes Altaf Qadri. In his Instagram series on “India Looking For Hope”, Qadri tells the story of a desperately poor, barely educated and homeless family, living on a wooden fruit vendor’s cart, on the fringes of New Delhi, with their hopes pinned on their 7-year son Farmaan who goes to school. The Khan family survives mostly through begging, but, it was Farmaan’s mother, Ruby Khan, who insisted, against her husband’s wish, that her son would go to school.
“I take photographs to create a difference,” he says as he delivers his Ted Talk, a truth one sees in every story he tells. Don’t miss this simple, yet evocative narration of Farmaan’s life, whose story is a mirror reflection of many children in India.
From the conflict in Kashmir, to political turmoil and major natural disasters, Altaf Qadri’s work lends humanism and insight to his every frame. To get a glimpse of his cutting-edge work follow him on Instagram, twitter and his website.
7-year-old Farmaan poses for a photograph near his home, a wooden fruit vendor’s cart, in New Delhi, India. For this Indian family, desperately poor, barely educated and living on the fringes of New Delhi life, hope can be found in their boy with huge eyes and scraggly hair.
Farmaan, back to camera, lies next to his three-month-old sister Razia on a wooden fruit vendor’s cart, which is his home, as they wake up on a cold morning in New Delhi, India.
Ruby Khan and Nisar Khan help their son Farmaan with his homework as they sit on a wooden fruit vendor’s cart, which is their home, in New Delhi, India. Simply by staying in school Farmaan has become the focus of the family’s dreams.
Farmaan, drinks tea as his father Nasir Khan and his mother Ruby Khan tend to their three-month-old daughter Razia.
Ruby Khan and her son Armaan Khan roll up a plastic tarp which acts as a roof on the wooden fruit vendor’s cart they call home, while her husband, and son Ajmeri, keep themselves warm under a blanket on a cold morning in New Delhi, India.
Ruby Khan helps Farmaan get ready for school.
Farmaan walks towards his school.
13-year-old Ajmeri, walks his younger brother Farmaan to school.
Farmaan studies at Salaam Baalak Trust, an NGO working for street children, in New Delhi, India.
Farmaan, waits to be served lunch meals at Salaam Baalak Trust.
Ruby Khan, holds her 3-month old daughter Razia as she asks from alms near Jama Mosque in New Delhi, India.
Farmaan, studies for school, watched by his father, while his mother plays with his infant sister.
Farmaan falls asleep on a pile of their belongings. City authorities regularly clear out the squatter camp and often destroy whatever they find. Because of that, some members of the Khan family sleep on a wooden fruit vendor’s cart the size of a large door, with the rest squeezing under a plastic tarp tied to a nearby wall. If the authorities arrive, the family can quickly pile everything they own, clothes, blankets, birth certificates, bags of whatever, onto the cart and roll it away.
The Khan family, led by their father, make their way to a temple to receive donations and free food in New Delhi, India.
Farmaan, and other homeless and daily wage laborers keep themselves warm around a bonfire in New Delhi, India.
Farmaan falls asleep while attending to his 3-month-old sister Razia.
Farmaan looks out from his home, as it drizzles in New Delhi, India.