BOMIS Pampore hosts 2-day Youth Parliament
Srinagar, Sep 28: In a bid to provide global exposure to the students of the schools, Birla Open Minds International School (BOMIS) Pampore hosted a two-day Youth Parliament at its campus. The event was a student-led initiative in which students from around 10 schools across the Valley participated and engaged in debates on different issues. The session was akin to the Parliament proceedings as the day event was held months after a group of students from BOMIS participated in Youth Parliament held in Jaipur and performed exceptionally well in the session, bringing laurels to their school.
"After the students returned from the Jaipur Youth Parliament session, they came up with an idea of hosting a similar event at their own campus.
The ideas were discussed and a decision was taken to organise the event. The whole idea was executed by the students only," a school functionary told Greater Kashmir. During the two day session, students from ten different schools participated in the debates and discussions and the proceedings were similar to that of the Parliament.
The participating students were divided into two groups- ruling party and opposition. Three students were given the designated role of Speaker of the House, Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
The whole proceedings and the deliberations were held in a structured manner reflecting the complete atmosphere of an actual parliament session. The arguments and the counter-arguments were held so professionally by the students playing the role of the politicians.
At the concluding ceremony held on Sunday, the leaders (students) representing ruling and the opposition party debated on Reservation Policy in which the members (students) from opposition came down heavily on the government while criticising the move. However, the students representing the ruling party defended the decision saying it empowered the people from weaker sections of the society.
The Youth Parliament was organised with an aim to encourage critical thinking, democratic setup and political values among the students. Director General School Education Kashmir, Dr G N Itoo, in his address as the chief guest at the occasion said the initiative was in line with National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 which has laid focus on experiential learning.
"I congratulate the team of this school where our young students are given a chance to see themselves in different roles," he said. He said that holding such sessions was one of the important initiatives to see how the students practically experience how things are happening in the Parliament and Assembly. "This goes a long way in understanding how policies and rules are made besides experiencing how legislation is done. It also inculcates a culture where we see that the people understand politics and they become politicians by conviction," he said.
