Yesterday I had a very interesting conversation with my cousin from the US. We met her family after 11 years. We were talking about her son’s extra-curricular activities. One of her sons went to National Youth Leadership Forum in Washington DC.
His team was given a “situation” – emergency in Sudan. They had to come up with a solution. Each member was appointed as Secretary of Defence, National Security Advisor etc.
The team got a chance to communicate with few “real” bureaucrats from the US government to learn how to solve these situations. I think this is a really cool idea. Not that the US has always been successful when it comes to foreign policy – Iraq, Pakistan. Exposing students to such mature topics during their childhood can leave a lasting impression on these kids.
I wonder if we had a similar Forum in India, what would our kids suggest to resolve the US-India nuclear deal crisis.
Update: In 2015, Speaker’ Research Initiative (SRI) launched an internship programme is aimed to acquaint young scholars with the working of Parliamentary democracy and to train them to contribute towards the generation of research inputs for members of Parliament.
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[…] years ago I had written about how students in US were exposed to government’s day to day operations. Not sure how many politicians in India are open to have students workings in their offices. It […]