PREPARATION
INVENTURE ACADEMY
YOUTH PARLIAMENT
October 19 - 22, 2022
What is Inventure Academy Youth Parliament (INYP)?
INYP is Inventure Academy’s national inter-school Mock Youth Parliament for high school children. INYP chooses an issue critical to children and provides a platform for simulations for debate, discussion and resolution, mirroring India’s Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha along with relevant stakeholders such as civic society, media, international organizations, political organizations etc.
Inventure’s education philosophy believes in empowering learners to be positive changemakers in the world they have inherited. INYP is a product of this philosophy and Inventure Academy’s Vision and Core Purpose,for all learners.
INYP provides an experiential learning opportunity for critical thinking, change and teamwork - instilling in every participant the desire and ability to be ‘socially responsible’ (part of our Core Purpose) and ‘be fit for life’ (part of our Vision)
Why is participation in INYP important?
For over 30 years, children have had a legally recognised right to participate, in accordance with age and maturity in all matters that affect them. As per Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:
“Children are members of society. They may be small in size but they fully have the right to freely express their thoughts, views and opinions, and participate in society particularly in the areas affecting them. Their voices must be seriously taken into account in line with their age and maturity.
Every child and youth has unfathomable potentials. While the government has to facilitate and support the participation of children and youth, everyone also needs to take action to support children and youth to participate and exercise their agency as they are also the main driving force in bringing about positive change to society.”
Yet, the right to participate remains an underutilized right. INYP offers a platform that teaches children how to participate, effectively engage, contemplate and contribute to matters affecting them. The students have an opportunity to learn primary and secondary research Design Thinking, data analysis, critical thinking, problem-solving & communication and policy drafting skills through a series of pre-conference workshops. Students will learn from the best in the field, mentored by people with extensive experience in the fields mentioned above.
The students will achieve this while simulating the real seats of power in India: the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Media and Civic Society over three days of intense, enjoyable and engaging participation
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Success Stories
Here are some examples of how students have participated to affect real change:
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The Our Voice platform was born in 2014 when we had great success, partnering with UNICEF, on a project called Our Safety Our Voice (OSOV) to tackle the physical security and abuse of school-going children. OSOV brought together the voices of 1000+ children on their concerns and recommendations about their safety. A student charter produced from OSOV was shared with the committee working on the Karnataka Government’s child protection policy. This helped shape the Karnataka Child Safety & Protection Law implemented in January 2018.
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The OSOV experience was so enriching that we have created a permanent platform for children’s children's perspectives and participation on matters that impact them called Our Voice. Importantly, Our Voice empowers the learning community to develop and utilize our expertise to collaboratively solve some of our world’s most ‘wicked problems.'
In 2019, Inventure Academy in partnership with schools associations from various boards in Karnataka organised the Our Future Our Voice symposium aimed at giving students and teachers, amongst those most directly impacted by the National Education Policy (NEP), an opportunity to share their views and perspectives on the Draft NEP 2019. Based on the feedback received, Inventure students and faculty worked on a charter that was presented to the Government for input into the National Education Policy. This was followed by a face to face meeting with Mr Tarun Bajaj, the then in-charge of education at the PMO’s office. We were happy to see some of our key recommendations being incorporated in the final NEP.
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For more information you can refer to our initiatives linked below
INYP 2022
Theme for 2022: ‘The Gaps in Education in Post-Pandemic India: Creating Multilevel Strategies for Response and Recovery’.
Objective
On national platform, bring together high school students from across the country, to tackle one of the most relevant challenges facing the country today. Using the overall theme seven Committees will deliberate over three days on issues such as addressing COVID dropout rates, bridging the gaps in learning that have emerged during the pandemic, and addressing the mental health wellbeing of students.
Format
With a combination of the practices of Model Parliament (a simulation of the parliamentary bodies in India), and Model United Nations (a simulation of various UN committees), the conference will explore obstacles and solutions from both a national and a global perspective. Seven committees will deliberate different aspects of this theme to draft and design an implementation toolkit that will help the government address the gaps in Post Pandemic Education.
INYP 2022 Committees and Primary Agenda:
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Lok Sabha: ‘Discussing the universalisation of quality post-pandemic education’
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Rajya Sabha: ‘Setting the budget for education’
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AIPPM (All India Political Parties Meet): ‘Addressing disruptions to education during the pandemic’
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Civil Society: ‘Examining the scope for improvements to technical infrastructure and teacher upskilling in schools’
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UNICEF: (United Nations Children’s Fund): ‘Addressing mental health concerns in post-pandemic education’
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UN Legal: ‘Finding durable solutions for refugees’
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IPC (International Press Corps): ‘Impact of media on actors during the pandemic with emphasis on child actors and social media stars’
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Desired Outcomes
In the same way that children’s voices have contributed to law-making in Karnataka and India through Inventure’s Our Safety Our Voice (OSOV) initiative, we envision the outcomes of the Inventure Academy Youth Parliament to include the presentation of student resolutions and charters to various stakeholders such as UNICEF, UNHCR, and the state and central government.
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Students will develop and apply the following life skills over the course of the conference:
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Learn how to identify problems and think critically;
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Apply design thinking and data science to solve problems and come up with solutions;
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Understand how law and policy are created and implemented, engage in dialogue, appreciate different perspectives and work in teams to create actionable resolutions.