Exciting partnerships across continents

Updated on: Thursday, February 16, 2012

The student exchange programmes, increasingly opted for by major schools in the State, are turning out to be a big hit with students and academicians.

Thanks to the exchange schemes, some Indian schools have borrowed ideas such as ‘flexible learning centres’ and the system of interactive smart boards while their counterparts in countries like UK have become more sensitive to issues like environment conservation.

“One thing we borrowed from them and experimented was the flexible learning centres. Here it’s the teachers who move around different classes.

But when our students visited the Cranbrook School, Kent, UK, they were amazed to see the structure there. The curriculum is very flexible and no one forces the students to attend a particular class.

Depending on a student’s interest, he/she can attend a class of their choice,” Jaya Jacob, Principal, Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara, said.

The students there can choose subjects of their choice once they reach eighth. “We too experiment with this concept but in a small scale. Here the problem is that numbers of students is far higher compared to our partner school,” she said.

Come October, a total of 26 students from the UK school would visit their partner school in Kerala. “The previous year, our students went there. It’s a continuous process aimed at opening new vistas of learning and teaching,” Jacob said.

The TocH Public School, Vytilla, has a student exchange programme with the William Hulme’s Grammar School, Manchester, UK. Two of the school faculty members, Priya Sreenivasan and Meera Thomas, recently flew to their partner school in UK to understand the system there.

“The teachers had a wonderful time interacting with the students and teachers, opening new vistas of learning and teaching,” N.M. George, Principal, TocH Public school, said.

By October this year, six TocH students along with two teachers will pay the UK school a visit and gain vital global exposure. “TocH has borrowed the system of interactive smart boards that make teaching and learning a very pleasant experience, substituting the monotony of lectures,” Priya Sreenivasan said. Joint programmes of the schools included cycle campaigns against use of plastic, ‘Flick the switch campaign’ that involves switching off power 15 minutes before the last bell, Christmas day celebrations with Santa Clauses spreading messages on eco-conservation and fashion shows with waste material.

A number of power point presentations criss-crossed the continents. “Protection of sacred groves in Kerala and their conservation has inspired the UK students to make similar groves in their school premises,” Meera Thomas said.

The TocH has also started celebrating fruit and vegetable days in the nursery sections, where students bring fruits and vegetables to school and teachers help them make salads.

Exciting partnerships across continents

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