Pam Payne Lewis: her involvement with the U.N.-sponsored Global Forum, and their meeting with children from The Barefoot College and The Children's Parliament in northwestern India.
Her comments in June of 2005:
"Gordon and I just returned from an 8-day trip to Seoul, South Korea. We attended the 6th Global Forum, a conference sponsored by the U.N. The conference theme, 'Reinventing Government,' dealt with participatory and transparent governance--a daunting topic. We also connected with a number of Heinz School alums who live in Seoul. Besides the time spent with our former students, the most moving encounter was with 5 children representing the Children's Parliament in Tilonia, Rajasthan, in northwestern India. These children (ages 11-14) have real power, such as authority to dismiss unsatisfactory teachers from 150 night schools serving 4,000 rural children. The Parliament was inspired by a project now known as the 'Barefoot College.' These incredible stories can be located on Google under 'Barefoot College' and 'Children's Parliament, Rajasthan.' Please look them up!"
Here's a link to a web site describing the Children's Parliament. It includes a short video in their native language.
The site needs to be updated. The current Prime Minister is Santosh Jat (13). The four other cabinet members I met were Rekha Daroga, Manju Jat, Om Prakash, and Santosh Mali. Their adult mentors (with whom I also spoke) were Taja Ram, coordinator of Barefoot College's education program, and Mangi Devi, coordinator of the night schools.
Here's an additional site.