International School Dhaka (ISD) has collaborated with Bangladesh Finance to organize an ‘Inclusion Symposium’ for the first time in Bangladesh. 

The event took place on Friday ( March 3) at ISD Campus. The event focused on children with special needs and how schools can include more diverse learners in the everyday classroom in Bangladesh, as it is the right of every child to receive quality education to develop their skills and realize their full potential, regardless of all their challenges. 

The event keynote speaker was Daniel Sobel, CEO, Inclusion Expert; Chair, International Forums of Inclusion Practitioners; and Founder, of Global Inclusive Teaching Initiative. He is also the consultant and advisor to schools, regional and national governments, UNESCO, the UN, and the EU. He conducted two workshops,’ Establishing the Inclusive Classroom’ and ‘How to Tackle the most Challenging Scenarios.’ 

The first workshop allowed participants to learn and discuss inclusion from being something that takes a huge amount of effort and money outside of classrooms to something quite simple and can be done in all settings, universally by every teacher. Participants also left the workshops with many practical ideas they could do in their classes. The second workshop focused on behavior. Mr. Sobel introduced several models and approaches that can help people to diminish numerous behavioral challenges and discussed the most challenging scenarios of any school. 

Regarding the event, Drs. Mira Van Der Wilson, Advancement Center Leader, International School Dhaka, commented, “I am pleased to see that around 300 people attended the event from all over Dhaka. We even have participants from Chattogram. Seeing the number of people interested and willing to learn about the topic is overwhelming. Organizing the event and witnessing such a powerful inclusion has been a great experience.”

A total of 25 workshops were conducted during the event, and representatives from several NGOs led these sessions along with ISD faculties. Guest speakers from several NGOs include Dr. Ashique Selim, Consultant Psychiatrist, PHWC; Thuji Grace, Clinical Head, Inner Circle Private Limited; Jayne Nadarajoo, Founding Director, ASPIRE Center for Inclusive Education and Training; Nazish Arman, Suchona Foundation; Pranay Bhuiyan, Suchona Foundation; and Ganesh Kanapathy, Co-Founder, The GUILD International College. Additionally, Kuri Chisim, Khalid Afif Mehran, and Farasha Khan conducted workshops, and they are ECD Program Specialists, Faculty Members, Masters in ECD Program, and Psychologists, IED, from BRAC. 

Speakers from ISD include Tom Johnson, MYP & DP Learning Support Specialist; Sekai Chitaukrie, Secondary Social Emotional Counselor; Shayla Kabir, Primary Learning Support Specialist; Heather Renee Spaeth, Lead, MYP & DP Language Acquisition Department; Chris Boyle, Secondary Principal; Marisa Suwanpatra, Teacher; Jamari Veenstra, EAL & EY Teacher; Rebecca Ann Churchill, Learning Support Specialist, MYP; Jessica Bowen, Primary Counselor; Ayaz Alam Qayami, Humanities Teacher; and Heather Nesbit, Primary Learning Support Specialist.

The event allowed people to expand their knowledge, strengthened their resilience, and increased their capacity for inclusion. It has been a fantastic event for professional development opportunities, especially for those working with children with special needs or related fields.