I have now spent little over a month in Kathmandu. The city has much to offer in terms of history, culture and food and I have been enjoying my time here. Although the copious amounts of pollution makes you want to cover your face completely, on a clear day if you raise your head you will be able to see the snow covered mountains surrounding the  Kathmandu Valley. A beautiful sight indeed!

My internship period has so far consisted of working with the Pragati School, a public school in the Lalitpur District of Kathmandu Valley. ICRI-Nepal has already done a lot of work at the school such as providing training for teachers and restructuring three class rooms. The training they provide is unique here in Nepal in the sense that it has an holistic approach to Early Childhood Development and therefore addresses issues such as health/nutrition, class room environment, teaching/learning materials as well as allowing for the inclusion of parents and the community.

My involvement at the school consists of working closely with a few of the teachers in order to improve the conditions of the class rooms as well as the teaching learning practices. Since the primary education in Nepal is more or less text book based, me and the teachers are trying to work more creatively with the children. Some of the activities included playing with home made playdoh and making drawings which were then posted on the wall in order for the children to discuss with each other what they had drawn. This has resulted in the children being more engaged and involved and has allowed them to share their ideas with each other as well as with the teachers. It has been a great experience so far and I am learning a lot. Both the teachers and the children are amazing and I will miss them a lot once I leave!

The moment I walked into the Oak Room, I wanted to be a child again. Sixteen three- year-olds formed a circle on the floor. On the giant blue and white dyed table cloth, they were enjoying an indoor picnic, sipping hot chocolate while munching on freshly baked pastries. It was a room full of happy laughter, pleasant aromas, stimulating colors and round-corner wooden furniture, all immersed in warm natural light. Countless developmentally appropriate activities, mostly art-related, take place here, with high parental involvement and full attention from teachers— something uncommon in a preschool elsewhere; but in Hearts Leap Preschool, this is every day.

Picture 1. Picnic in the Oak Room.

Located in the historic Julia Morgan Centerfor the Arts, Hearts Leap is one of the six child care and early childhood development centers operated by International Child Resource Institute (ICRI) in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2001, ICRI was asked to take over the operation of this child care center in south Berkeley, and Hearts Leap has since been recognized both locally and internationally as a model early childhood program. Staffed with twelve talented and dedicated teachers, Hearts Leap not only demonstrates the best possible preschool but also experiments with new ways of teaching according to most recent pedagogical research. It always receives high demand for slots from local parents. Educators from around the world come here for study and learning exchange opportunities.

Picture 2. Small Group Time for Reflection and Community.

When asked what makes Hearts Leap different, Ellie Mashhour, the Child Care Operations Manager at ICRI, said: “We look at each individual child, see where the child is, what the child needs, and how we as adults can really push him/her to that direction which he/she desires most.”

Hearts Leap utilizes a discovery-based emergent curriculum. The central philosophy of an emergent curriculum is that everything is emergent in nature and the planning of curriculum should reflect both children’s and teachers’ interests and passions. It is a dynamic process that focuses on the dialogue and cooperation between teachers and children, encouraging creative, experiential, and life-related learning. Inspired by developmental psychologists Piaget and Vygotsky and world-known philosopher John Dewey, the curriculum is drastically different from a predefined curriculum under which children always do the same thing by following a set of concrete instructions together (Yu-le 2004).

Young children learn by imagining and doing. Granted with a lot of independence, children are soaked in an interactive learning environment with experienced staff on a day to day basis. A range of activities, including music and movement, yoga and gymnastics, take place here every day. Teachers not only use language, but also gestures, facial expressions, drawings, music to communicate with children. Ellie said, “We are not babysitting children. We are not just looking after them so they are safe. We are teachers, here to assist and guide them.” The classroom is a highly engaging and inspirational space.

Picture 3. Diverse Constructions Make An Outdoor Play Area Fun–Always Something to Explore.

Picture 4. The Classroom Provides Children with A Plentitude of Opportunities to Express Themselves by Doing Art.

The classroom setting is an “unspoken teacher” in emergent curriculum. Hearts Leap constructs explorative and developing classrooms where teachers, students, and teaching materials interact in the context of dialogue. Designed with exquisite details, Hearts Leap is a safe, homey and dreamy place that contains areas devoted to art expression, music, pretend play, science, reading, sports, etc. Children’s social and emotional skills, language skills, thinking skills, and ability to imagine and to create are encouraged to grow together in such an environment.

Picture 5. Reading Corner Designed for Children to Develop Their Literacy Skills.

Picture 6. Pretend Play Area—“Doctor” and “Patient.”

Picture 7. Music/movement Area.

Picture 8. Block Play Area.

Under an emergent curriculum, Hearts Leap seeks to promote the full realization of a child’s whole life—every child is considered a distinct individual. The staff aims to correspond to the need of the child all-round development. Everyone’s uniqueness is highly appreciated here. For instance, the rooms are filled with pictures, completed projects, and detailed information of each child. Hearts Leap also maintains a library of “Love Letters” in which if a teacher has any contact with a child, he/she writes couple of sentences about the day and the activity. In addition, a portfolio is created and kept since day one at Hearts Leap, including copies of the first picture one draws and another one does six months later.

Picture 9. Every Child’s Family is Connected via a Map on the Wall.

High parental involvement and community engagement is another feature that makes Hearts Leap stand out. Ellie said: “We maintain close contact with the schools in Berkeley and Oakland—know the kindergarten teachers and first-grade school teachers. Our staffs go and sit down in their classrooms and hear their expectations. We are fully aware what transitions they are looking for in a child.” The administrator also makes great efforts to ensure both school and home are continuous learning spaces for students. Parents are encouraged to take active roles in organizing community events and playing with children, and maintaining constant contact with teachers.

Picture 10. Parental Involvement is Essential Piece of Hearts Leap’s High Quality Childcare.

Beyond its local operation, Hearts Leap engages in international efforts to impact more children’s lives. In 2005, Ellie was invited to talk about early childhood development curriculum inSharonChildcareCenterin a small village nearNairobi,Kenyafor the first time. However when she arrived, she realized there was something that deserved more attention,

“It was hard for me to work with the staff when I was seeing the hungry children; many of them were with one teacher. I wanted to talk to the teachers about health and safety but there was even no water for me to show them how to wash their hands. So my focus immediately went to the basic needs to provide children with water and food.”

After the trip, Ellie shared her story with the families at Hearts Leap and organized several fundraising events. The preschool had a cooking project in which the children baked and sold the cookies to parents. It raised $750 dollars and bought water bottles, which were later painted by the children and sent to children inKenya. “Last year, we also funded a trip for the children inSharonCenterto visit the city as a gift for their graduation. Now we have hired a local nurse to visitSharononce a month,” said Ellie.

Picture 11. Message Board at Hearts Leap with Pictures Sent from Kenya.

Her dream is to find a permanent site for the sixty children at Sharon Center, “Right now they are at the church so they are not able to participate in schooling every day if there is a wedding or funeral. I will continue to work with the teachers to find a better place. The challenge is cultural issues that are not being paid attention, to get to know them.”

In close relationship with ICRI Africa, Hearts Leap has extended its experience of building access to high quality and developmentally-appropriate early childhood education forAfrica’s poorest children. By imaging and creating a child-caring community beyond boundaries, Hearts Leap manifests the possibilities of what a child care center today can be—a promising and enlightening picture it is painting for all children.

Reference: Yu-le, Z. (2004). Some thoughts on emergent curriculum. Paper presented at the Forum for Integrated Education and Educational Reform sponsored by the Council for Global Integrated Education,Santa Cruz,CA, October 28-30.

“You don’t have to go toAfricato help people with HIV/AIDS,” said founder Deborah Kutenplon.

We are so honored to be a part of this achievement. Here are some highlights from 2011:

Spreading Peanut Butter

Last year, the Peanut Butter Project expanded to a second site—the Baylor Pediatric HIV Clinic in remote Qacha’s Nek, Lesotho— to help another 130 malnourished HIV-positive kids get better nutrition, in addition to the 150 children served at the clinic in Leribe. Through this project HIV-positive kids will get extra protein and energy at every doctor’s visit when along with HIV care, they’ll get a big tub of peanut butter.

Riding for a Cause

Marc Reich, a resident ofIowa, biked for seven days, 470 miles across his home state in one of the worst heat waves in recent memory. If you are wondering why, it was to raise money for AIDS orphan care.

“I have pondered how to make my seven days of pedaling about something more than sore legs, 15,000 new friends, and a rolling party across Iowa and have decided to use my Iowa foolishness to raise awareness and money for AIDS Orphan Care,” said Marc, who succeeded in raising over $1,000.

The Walkathon

On May 15, 2011, a community of 150 walkers participated in the first annual walkathon atLincolnWoodsState ParkinLincoln,RIand raised over $21,000 for AIDS orphans and HIV-positive kids inLesotho. For every person who walked, there were five others who supported them with a pledge. Supporters came from as far away asCalifornia,Vancouver, andArgentina. “The cause brought people together to help children they have never met,” said the staff.

Mamello Primary School

In 2011, AIDS Orphan Care provided free breakfasts and lunches and paid teachers’ salaries when the government stopped inMamelloPrimary School. Founded to serve HIV-positive children stigmatized at regular public schools inLesotho, Mamello attracted more than 300 students from 14 rural villages.

“It is probably through your assistance that the school is functioning in a coherent way with the orphans, vulnerable children and learners with disabilities. We are so grateful you stand by our side to take care of them,” wrote Me’ Mamello, one of the school’s founders.

New Year Resolutions

This year, ICRI would like to invite you to learn more about the continuous accomplishments and goals of The AIDS Orphan Care. Please join our efforts to fight HIV/AIDS and bring health and happiness to more children in the world!

Make a tax deductible donation online (www.AIDSorphancare.org) or by mail ($50-school lunch for an orphan for a year; $100-peanut butter for 30 malnourished kids for a month; $200-food for the orphans in Rebecca’s care for 6 months):

AIDS Orphan Care—ICRI

PO Box 135

Barrington, RI 02806

Friends,

The Steering Committee wishes you, and all the children, a wonderful holiday season.

We are busy getting ready for a push with the White House to get the President to send his ratification recommendation to the Senate in 2012.  In order to do that, we have put a petition on our Website, at http://www.childrightscampaign.org/take-action/ask-the-president/petition?view=form to gather grassroots support for the recommendation.  In order to succeed, we need to get this to the President before he gets totally involved in his reelection campaign.  So we need your signatures, and those of your friends and relations, on the petition now.

Please also ask the organizations in which you’re active to add a request to sign the petition, with its link as indicated above, to their list serves and Web sites.  Our goal is to have about 25,000 (the number the White House uses to flag significant petitions) by the end of January.  Please help us to accomplish this.  Thank you, and have a blessed holiday.

Engaged students, teachers and parents at El Nuevo Mundo

Around the world, our programs have achieved greater levels of success but we have also seen obstacles to the healthy growth and development of children. Some of our successes:

• Our UNICEF –funded Water Sanitation Health and Nutrition Project in Kenya reached 60,000 families with water-filtration systems, health outreach and nutrition education. We saw, through this project, the remarkable work of our Kenya staff in reaching families and children in three of the poorest regions in northern Kenya.
• In Nepal, our National Center on Learning Resources (NCLR) continued to develop child-friendly schools in collaboration with 18 public and private primary and preschools. The work of our amazing Nepali teacher trainers in engaging the hearts and minds of teachers and parents through active participation and community involvement is a sight to behold.
• In Ghana, we have recently launched a new National Early Childhood Teacher Coalition where those who believe that young Ghanaian children deserve supportive, nurturing, and curiosity-building education can receive training, resources and support.
• In Zimbabwe, we continue to marvel at the Marondara Early Childhood Center serving AIDS orphans and other community children. Our staff has developed a building that nurtures children and our local teachers continue to create stimulating environments using only found objects and local materials.
• In India, we are providing more teacher trainings to improve curricula, program delivery and environmental development for children in the Bengaluru and Kolkata areas.
• Here in the U.S., we are working on articles moving us from research to practice on children’s brain development, international child advocacy efforts, and helping the world to see that they can use found objects and local materials to create high-quality, developmentally-stimulating environments for children around the world. We also welcomed to our ICRI family a bilingual preschool, El  Nuevo Mundo, which serves children in a low-income target area of Richmond, California.
• In Malaysia, we designed an ECD center for the Central Bank of Malaysia that will serve as a model in the region for many years to come.

Our challenges include the need to refine or expand our work to serve more children, more schools, more families, and more communities more effectively in Kenya, Nepal, Ghana, Zimbabwe, India and the U.S.  We are also working to make our offices and programs around the world to become more self-sufficient by launching local fund development initiatives in each of the countries in which we work.

Our reason for hope is that we see a world where many of us better understand the needs of children and are more ready than ever to work at seeking lasting, sustainable solutions that will promote each child’s health, safety, education and security around the world.

You can help by donating to ICRI and, if you wish, designating a country or project that you would like to support. You can visit our website here to decide which project you would like to assist. You can make your donation by going to this link.

We thank those of you who are already part of the ICRI worldwide family and welcome all of you who want to bring about lasting change that will result in a world where no child is hungry, every child can reach his or her full potential and all those who nurture and care for children will be rewarded for the critical roles they play. We wish for you a joyous and peaceful new year!

For the children,

Ken.

 I have now spent one week inKathmandu,Nepal, a city full of intense traffic, many temples and warm and friendly people. It is the first week out of three months at the ICRI-Nepal office where I will be conducting my internship. I arrived alone but am already feeling as a member of the ICRI-Nepal family due to the warm welcome of the ICRI-Nepal staff.

Now, a short introduction seems at place. My name is Emelie and I am a pre-school teacher from Gothenburg,Sweden. I am currently enrolled in the Global Studies Master Program at GothenburgUniversity. My wish is to combine these studies with my knowledge of Early Childhood Development (ECD). By doing an internship at ICRI-Nepal I have been given the opportunity to both learn from and contribute to the field of ECD inNepal.

Already within the first week I had the possibility to meet with the two facilitators Ms Susan Rai and Ms Ram Badan who both are board members ofNationalCenterfor Learning Resources (NCLR ), an ICRI-Nepal project. These two ladies has many years of experience within the field of Early Childhood Development (ECD) and I had the great opportunity of seeing them in action. With so much energy and enthusiasm they managed to get the attention of everybody in the room, no one was left untouched. With the help of acting, singing and story telling, they train teachers in (among other things) first aid equipment at ECD-centers and pre-primary schools and the importance of working creatively with young children.

I feel extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to meet with these ladies from whom I have much to learn. That they are part of ICRI’s global family can only mean great success.

Chagua teaches a movement class at Project Commotion

Susan Osterhoff and Chagua Camacho-Olguín were doing what they loved to do—teaching movement classes to children. Both students of capoeira, a Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, sports, and music, they shared a deep appreciation for the role of physical movement in the development of children.

Over time, they began to notice a pattern at the center where they taught—there were several kids who were deemed trouble makers, and Chagua became the go-to person for “dealing” with those students. They soon discovered that most of those children were on the Autism spectrum, but their parents were not forthcoming about this information because they wanted their children to be integrated into their classes.

“Chagua was just really, really good at working with kids who were having issues,” said Susan. She remembers one child in particular, with whom none of the other instructors were able to build a relationship. “But when Chagua met him for the first time, there was an instant connection. It was so intense.”

Susan and Chagua were fascinated by child development, and they enrolled at the City College of San Francisco to learn more about this field. They focused on sensory integration, which looks at the way we experience the world through our senses and develop our vestibular system. The more they learned about the effects environmental factors such as sound and light have on sensory responses, the more convinced they became that the existing programs with which they were familiar were overstimulating children.

“We knew if we had our own space, we would be able to create a program that would meet our philosophy,” Susan shared. They developed their own vision of the ideal space for children: a space where Susan and Chagua could play and interact with children in a way that supports their growth, development, and their true understanding of themselves. They wanted to provide children with an environment where they could run, jump, spin, roll, hang, and literally bounce off the walls. It was also important to them that they reach underserved children who are in danger of falling through the cracks by being labeled as behaviorally-troubled.

Thus, Project Commotion was born. However, Susan and Chagua needed help to get their vision off the ground.

Enter ICRI. Through a series of references, Susan and Chagua contacted ICRI and began meeting with ICRI staff about program development and fund development. They were delighted when ICRI’s Board of Directors voted to become the fiscal sponsor of Project Commotion.

ICRI has often served as a fiscal sponsor to smaller organizations and projects. In this way we are able to leverage our infrastructure and experience from 30 years of operating programs for children and families to grow emerging initiatives and make an even greater impact. Fiscal sponsorship exemplifies ICRI’s entrepreneurial spirit. We provide our fiscally-sponsored projects with programming advice, administrative support, and fiscal management so they can focus all their efforts on serving children. Fiscally-sponsored organizations also share in our tax-exempt status and fiduciary oversight.

In the case of Project Commotion, ICRI was also able to provide significant start-up funding and cover the initial costs of creating Susan and Chagua’s dream environment for children. Project Commotion has actively fundraised over the past three years to pay off these start-up costs, and has continued to expand its programming to reach more families. We are now working with Susan and Chagua to help Project Commotion grow to the next stage of organizational development and obtain independent legal status as a non-profit.

“Our goal is to become independent, but ICRI has been very supportive and allowed us to have the autonomy to make decisions and have our program be what we envisioned it to be,” said Susan.

Project Commotion is just one of many projects that have been able to provide needed services to children and families due to ICRI’s fiscal and program sponsorship. We are proud to have supported Susan and Chagua’s innovative methods for engaging children through movement and sensory integration. The success of Project Commotion is a testament to Susan and Chagua’s vision and perseverance– and to the entrepreneurial approach championed by ICRI.

The daughter of a diplomat, Marianela Soto Hurtado spent her childhood in various countries in Europe, theU.S.,CanadaandChile. Yet, throughout her travels, she longed to stay deeply connected with her Chilean roots. This desire stayed with her even after she completed her M.Ed. in Human Development and Psychology fromHarvardUniversityand began working at the Boston Children’s Hospital, followed by theSouthEndCommunityHealthCenter, also inBoston.

Marianela specialized in school-based counseling and child abuse counseling. During a year of travel, she visitedChile, where she was invited to observe clinical sessions at different centers that worked with children. She was surprised by what she saw—although child abuse clinics existed, it was apparent to her that most counselors were not entirely sure how to handle such cases.

“It was as if when a child said she was abused, they could not hear it,” she remarked. She knew this was an opportunity for her to make a difference, so she devised a plan.

The first step was to begin working with the Giaretto Institute ( now Eastfield Ming Quong) in San Jose, CA, the first child sexual abuse center in the U.S. Marianela was eager to hone her knowledge and experience, and to take it back to Chile, but one crucial question remained unanswered—how would she sustain herself?

It was during her stint at Giaretto that someone at a private school she was visiting mentioned ICRI. Curious about this organization that was involved in children’s welfare around the world, Marianela made a trip to our Berkeley HQ office. She found her answer.

“What impressed me was the very dedicated focus on children, and very young children,” she says about ICRI.

Although she had contacted various larger organizations with a similar focus, at ICRI she found the perfect balance of support and autonomy that she was seeking.

“Here, you can create a project based on what you see is needed. At large or well known organizations, your supervisors decide that these are the programs they want to do, and you are an employee or a consultant for the ideas that they have,” she explains about her search. “ICRI requires you to be very responsible about what you know and don’t know, and can and can’t do, but it also allows you to be creative.”

After securing a formal partnership with ICRI in 2000, Marianela started looking for funding. From 2002 to 2006, she spent half the year inChiletraining professionals and childcare workers at centers run by Servicio Nacional de Menores (SENAME), a children’s rights government organization. She wrote proposals, obtained grants, and improved her curriculum for the rest of the year. By 2006, she had presented her well-received training at 54 child abuse treatment centers, 62 assessment centers, and 117 children’s group homes. She was able to impact thousands of children through the 850 workers she empowered. In addition, she taught at various universities, and hosted guest lecturers including Dr. Donald Bross, Director of Legal Counsel at theKempeCenterfor the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect. Despite the success of this venture, Marianela headed back to theU.S.in 2008 because grants from foundations were drying up and the program could no longer be funded.

However, Marianela is not one to give up so easily. She is ready to pick up where she left off and is currently raising funds to revive the program. She is hoping to create a permanent branch of ICRI inChile, and consolidate her work there while expanding toPeru,BoliviaandParaguay. She knows her work is critical. According to a recent UNICEF survey, “the key child protection issue is the region of Latin America and theCaribbeanis violence: on the streets, in the juvenile justice systems, in the home, or in the form of sexual abuse and exploitation. By training professionals and child care workers in outpatient and residential centers that see abused children, Marianela wants to help the growing awareness of child abuse and how to prevent and treat it in neighboring countries that are starting to address the issue.

Marianela shakes her head in amusement when she recalls how far she has come in realizing her dream. She recalls writing her first LOI to ICRI, meeting with the board, and not knowing “anything about writing a proposal or how to get funds.”

Now, Marianela has come a long way, and she credits her partnership with ICRI for developing her as a leader and advocate for children.  Marianela is just one of numerous leaders in whom ICRI has invested over its 30 year history.  In our experience, people with a deep personal connection are the ones best suited to identify and address issues facing their home communities.  We are always on the lookout for other Marianelas- social entrepreneurs looking to use their unique talents and passions to make a difference for children and families in need.

ICRI has been working in Nepal for over a decade.  In our projects focusing on education, health, and children’s rights we have seen incredible challenges facing disabled Nepali children and families.

Our National Center for Learning Resources program serves a number of schools where students have physical disabilities.  Our team has been able to effectively advocate for simple accommodations to allow these children to be integrated into the school with their peers.

As a new report from Human Rights Watch documents, however, many disabled Nepali children continue to be isolated and excluded from the country’s educational system.

(August 24, 2011) – Children with disabilities in Nepal face diverse and imposing barriers to getting a basic education, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Schools are physically inaccessible, teachers are inadequately trained, and some children with disabilities are unjustly denied admission to neighborhood schools, Human Rights Watch found.

The 76-page report, “Futures Stolen: Barriers to Education for Children with Disabilities in Nepal,” documents the hurdles that children with disabilities face in obtaining a quality education in Nepal. Some children with disabilities experience abuse and neglect at home and in their communities, making it harder for them to gain access to schooling. These barriers result in low attendance and high dropout rates for children with disabilities compared with their non-disabled peers.

“Tens of thousands of children with disabilities in Nepal are being shut out from or neglected by the school system,” said Shantha Rau Barriga, disability rights researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch. “TheNepalese education system needs to offer appropriate, quality education to all children, including those with disabilities.”

The Human Rights Watch report was based on interviews with nearly 100 disability advocates, teachers, government officials, and children or young people with disabilities and their families.

One of the children Human Rights Watch interviewed was 16-year-old Amman, who lives in the far-western region of Nepal. Because the local school entrance has two steep steps and no ramps, Amman has to crawl to reach his classroom. He cannot use the toilet without assistance and gets no support from school staff, so he either has to wait until he gets home, or another child has to run home to fetch his mother to assist him. Other children in the classroom are afraid to sit near him, so he sits alone in the corner.

Education Ministry officials acknowledge that a significant number of the more than 329,000 primary school aged children who are out of school in Nepal are children with disabilities. The government promotes an inclusive education policy, requiring communities to provide education to all children without discrimination. But many children with disabilities are not provided the support they need to attend community schools, and many schools are unprepared to teach children with disabilities.

Research shows that an inclusive approach to education can boost learning for all students and combat harmful stereotypes of people with disabilities. However, the government of Nepal relies upon segregated, and often inferior, classes for children with disabilities, and separate schools for children who have physical, sensory, or intellectual disabilities.

Many children with disabilities were turned away from schools entirely, Human Rights Watch found. More than half of the families with children with disabilities interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported that their children were denied admission to schools, both public and private. Many parents were not aware that their children had the right to attend school.

International donors and United Nations agencies are seemingly aware of the lack of targeted efforts to ensure that children with disabilities are in school. But they have not done enough to ensure that funding for education is distributed without discrimination and equitably benefits children with disabilities, Human Rights Watch said.

“As funding pours into Education For All programs in Nepal, the government, the UN and international donors need to make sure that children with disabilities are not excluded,” Barriga said. “The government and its partners need to have a clear plan for integrating children with disabilities, particularly intellectual or developmental disabilities, into mainstream schools.”

The curriculum in Nepal’s schools does not take into account differences in learning ability, so children with disabilities who are in mainstream schools repeatedly fail and are more likely to repeat a grade. One 15-year-old boy with a psychosocial disability told Human Rights Watch, “I spent three years in Class 1, then three years in Class 2, then one year in Class 3. But I don’t know the alphabet. The teacher just wrote my exams. That’s why I passed.”

As a result of the lack of educational options for some children with disabilities, lack of information about options, and schools’ refusals to admit children with disabilities, some parents said they saw no choice but to lock their children with disabilities in a room or tie them to a post.

The mother of one young boy with a developmental disability told Human Rights Watch, “I offer food and bring him tea. If he does toilet in the room, I clean it up. I have to take care of the whole house; I can’t just look after him. If I spend the whole day with him, my other child will miss his bus, everything will be in disarray.” She lets her son out of the room once or twice a day to see the sun.

The government of Nepal should revise teacher training materials, train all teachers about inclusive education methods, and improve monitoring of access to and the effectiveness of education for children with disabilities, Human Rights Watch said. The government and donors, working together, need to develop awareness-raising and educational campaigns about the right to education and other rights of people with disabilities. Parliament, in consultation with disabled peoples’ organizations, should comprehensively review all domestic legislation and make amendments to comply fully with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Human Rights Watch said.

While it will take time for the school system to become fully inclusive of all children, the government needs to take steps toward this goal, Human Rights Watch said.

For example, the government needs to rethink the use of special resource classes, which are intended as a transition to mainstream schools but which effectively perpetuate segregation. Children in these classes range in age from 6 to 17, with some even in their 20s, and children often remain in these classes for years.

“Nepal needs to honor its obligations to protect the right of all children with disabilities to be educated in a safe, accessible, and non-discriminatory environment,” Barriga said. “Children with disabilities should not be left behind, locked up, or shut out from school and learning.”

- Human Rights Watch press release, 8/24/2011

The excited graduates could hardly contain their excitement backstage! Over the course of the evening, they participated in a Parade of Flags, sang songs in sign language, danced and recited poems.

Director Blanca Silvana Mosca-Carreon and alumni parent Alejandro Rios hosted the ceremony, with special guests John Marquez, Godfather of El Nuevo Mundo, Ken Jaffe, ICRI Executive Director, and Ruth Fernandez, Manager of Education Services at Contra Costa County.

Congratulations, venaditos! We look forward to seeing the good work you will do in coming years.

Photo credits: Judah Lakin