THEME
Imagine: Play and Creative Mediums

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Moderator: Ratnesh Mathur

Ratnesh has been working with children for eighteen years. He propagates democratic, learner-driven environments. He is part of Aarohi​ Open Learning Community. Aarohi​ ​is a community of self directed learners -​ children who decide what they want to learn, how they want to learn, when they want to learn and use self assessment. At Aarohi, they do not follow any philosophy, but they follow the child​. Aarohi offer​s​ an open learning environment at ​ its campus in a village near Hosur.

Mina Dilip

Child psychologist, Chennai

Mina is a Psychologist, Counselor, Trainer and Writer. With a Masters degree in Psychology from Madras University, and Diplomas in Child Psychology and Advanced Counselling Skills from Stonebridge Associated Colleges, UK, Mina Dilip has been training and counselling groups of people from various backgrounds for over five years now. Her sessions cover topics ranging from emotional and psychological issues to relationship management and personal growth. She is currently associated with MOP Vaishnav College for Women as a Consultant Trainer, where she addresses undergraduate and postgraduate students in large groups, dealing with life skills and emotional management. She also offers personal growth programs for teachers, and conducts parenting workshops periodically. 

With a special focus on non-directive play therapy, Mina works one-on-one with children as well as adults, offering counselling and therapeutic services using play-based methodologies.

Rajesh PI

Founder, The Actors Collective

Rajesh is currently the India Representative of the International Playback Theatre Network (IPTN). He is a theatre trainer and coach who has trained thousands of participants over the last 22 years. He works with companies, educational institutions, NGOs and general public. Rajesh develops theatre based training modules to develop teams, build effective leadership, to de-stress, to develop better communication skills and to enhance personal creativity. He conducts Playback Theatre Workshops. This form of theatre uses audience real life stories as material for actors to play it back to audiences in real-time without any prior discussion. Rajesh is the founder of The Actors Collective. It is a theatre group with members who are primarily trained in Playback Theatre. The greater mission of The Actors Collective is to use theatre to foster peace, sensitivity and love among fellow human beings, also focusing on using multiple aids for personal growth and learning. Rajesh has also acted in commercial films.

Sudarshan Khanna

Design Educator & Consultant, Head, Toy Innovation Centre, Chairman of Education & Research at National Institute of Design (NID)

Design Educator Professor Sudarshan Khanna, was Principal Designer, Chairman of Education & Research and Head of Toy Innovation Centre at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, India. An internationally acclaimed designer and educator, he has helped establish several new courses and programs, including the Postgraduate Program in Toy & Game Design. Sudarshan Khanna is a pioneer in the research of interesting facets of indigenous toys and crafts communities all over India. He was conferred 1996 National Award for his life time work for design-science among children by Department of Science and Technology. He is recipient of international BRIO Award 2013 for his lifelong contribution for research and innovation for toy design and development in India. Prof. Sudarshan Khanna is the past president of ITRA (International Toy Research Association) and founder Chairperson of “Toys for Tomorrow”- vision-action international forum. 

Author of three books and many articles on toy design, culture and creative education, he featured in many educational TV programs. He has been conducting workshops in India and other countries - for teachers, trainers and students - relating value of design methods and creativity as part of innovative learning process.

Gitanjali Sarangan

Founder, Snehadhara Foundation

Gitanjali Sarangan, founder of Snehadhara Foundation is an educationist, a social entrepreneur, an Arts Based Therapy (ABT) Practitioner, Guide and ABT Educator with over a decade’s experience in teaching a diverse population of children and adults. Snehadhara Foundation is the first centre in the country that uses Arts Based Therapy as the only methodology to work with children and adults with special needs. She is also an Internship guide at the Indian Society for Training and Development. Gitanjali is a recipient of the Millennium Alliance Grant for the project ‘Kala Samavesh - Inclusion and Education of Disabilities. She has been awarded as one among the 50 Most Impactful Social Innovators (Global Listing) by the World CSR Congress and Awards. Gitanjali is also the recipient of the ‘Dr. Amarnath Annual Award for Inclusion’, 2016.She is one among two artists to be awarded the Artist’s Grant 2014 for the ‘Art in Education Program’ by the India Foundation for the Arts and the Artist’s Grant 2014 by India Foundation for the Arts. She has been recognised by Global Ethics Forum and Indian Institute of Management, for working towards establishing an impartial and fair world. 

She has also spoken at the TEDx BITS Hyderabad on ‘The Goodness of Life’. Gitanjali is on the panel of experts of the ‘Arivu Disha’ a two-Pronged Program to Improve Learning Outcomes and Career Prospects of government school children in Karnataka. Over the last few years, she has been conducting seminars and workshops with various groups and organisations on taking learning methodologies to varied populations using the Creative Arts. She has designed and facilitates a certificate course along with Headstreams at Christ University, IIPR (Indian Institute of Psychology and Research), St.Joseph’s and Mount Carmel College, Bangalore titled ‘Psycho-Socio well being using Arts and Play’. In association with Mirra Foundation she has designed and conceptualised Hridakasha– ‘Enabling peer to peer interaction to create inclusive empathetic learning spaces for children with disabilities using the Arts’ for the 9heads of organisations under the Abhividhi initiative in Chennai. Gitanjali conducts lectures for the students of the D.Ed and M.Ed courses at NIEPMD, Chennai and Amar Jyoti , Delhi. Born and educated in Mumbai, she has been a Lady Tata Memorial Scholarship Awardee and a University rank holder in Biochemistry. She has studied Applied Buddhist Psychology and Ethics from Pune University. Gitanjali is trained in Carnatic as well as Hindustani Classical music and is a Bharatnatyam dancer.

Dr. Naveen I. Thomas

Secretary, Headstreams

Naveen has over 17 years of experience in the social development sector. He currently leads Headstreams, an organisation that works on promoting human development through play. Naveen co-ordinates Post-Graduate Diploma and Certificate Courses in Play and Well-being. He also serves on the Board of Studies of Social Work Department in Christ University. Naveen has previously been involved in health research and policy issues on health as part of Community Health Cell, Bangalore and was part of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Watch team of the People's Health Movement. 

Naveen is a trained social worker from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai and has completed a specialised course in Medical Law and Ethics from National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. His doctoral thesis examines human vulnerability in the process of disaster recovery. Naveen's intervention experience includes disaster response in the aftermath of the super-cyclone in Orissa, drought in Western Rajasthan, tsunami in Kanyakumari and floods in the northern part of Karnataka. He has served as an independent consultant with Oxfam on a project titled health and disasters, and was the lead consultant for evaluating the permanent housing programme in tsunami-hit areas of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.