DHARAMSHALA, April 14: More than 50 school children from 25 different schools from the Himalayan regions gathered for a conference on ‘Student Leadership and Personal Development’, at the Songtsen Library, Dehradun, on April 11 and 12.
Organized by the SPARKE (Supporting Positive Alternatives for Raising Kindness in Education), an initiative of a Swedish school organization Operation Dagsverke, the conference was aimed to enable frank discussion among students about issues related to student democracy and influence, leadership and student councils.
“It was also a great opportunity for networking and sharing, as many of the students are attending boarding schools in remote areas and do not get frequent chances to meet with other students in similar situations,” said Tenzin Lhawang, Coordinator of the conference.
The participating schools included Tibetan schools, Indian schools and Nepali Schools from the Himalayan regions across India and Nepal.
“The SPARKE project began with 5 schools in 2007. This is a project that seeks to remove the use of corporal punishment and deepen the knowledge of positive alternative disciplining techniques”, Lhawang said.
The resource persons for the conference included Mrs. Linda Lepcha (Holistic Training Solutions), Mr. Lou Farley, a licensed professional counselor from the US, Mr. Duke Tsering, Principal of TCV Selaqui and Mr. Dorje Gyaltsen from Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarah.
