Schools from Chennai embrace UK for exchange

CHENNAI: For Batul Sidh Puri , a Class 12 student of MSB School in Parrys Corner, the television was her only window to Britain. This May, she got to see more of the country than what she had seen on television .

Batul and 18 schoolmates visited the Launceston College in the UK as part of a student exchange programme. Just as MSB welcomed its British peers, 11 students from the PSBB Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Nungambakkam flew to the UK last week with two teachers .

With international exposure being the catchphrase for education, more and more schools are encouraging children to pack their bags for exchange programmes. And it's much more than an excursion . According to British Council, which organizes the 'Connecting classrooms' programme , the number of schools applying for the Indo-UK partnership programme has doubled in a year. "Last year, 95 schools in south India applied for the programme. In the first five months of this year, the number has touched 100," said Ramesh Veluchamy , senior project manager at British Council. Batul couldn't hide her excitement even a month after the trip. "We didn't just interact with the Launceston students . We saw what and how they were taught. It was interesting to know that students could do courses in hotel management and carpentry after school hours," she said.

Ali Hussain of Class 9 was fascinated by the visit to the Euro Space Centre in Brussels , but an evening in Launceston's catering class was an unforgettable experience. "First of all, I was surprised that they had cooking classes. They made some Indian dishes for us," gushed Hussain.
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More than 30 schools in Tamil Nadu are part of 'Connecting Classrooms' now. It started as a global school partnership 10 years ago to encourage teacher exchange programmes with a grant of £1,500 pounds. But schools such as PSSB took this forward by including students with these conditions — they have to accommodate their counterparts in their houses, bear the ticket cost and be ready to get the taste of a new culture. Academicians approve of the trend. "Anything out of the ordinary is welcome. If students get a platform to learn and showcase their talent , then why not have exchange programmes," said academician S S Rajagopalan.

Global connect

However, the less fortunate are satisfied with video conferencing. Students of Sevalaya's Mahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School located in a village 30km off Chennai have video chats with their friends in Cunningham Hill Junior School which is 29km from London.

The children of this Tamil medium school exchange letters in English with their counterparts. "Cunningham students contribute to our monthly theme magazine Vidiyal ," said school principal Annapurna Narayanaswamy . "We have been sending two teachers for the past three years as part of the partnership . But, we can't afford to send children and if we do, we don't know whom to select. Every child here deserves a chance," she said.

Source: http://to.ly/meZA