Working with India
India is a 'topic' that features
in History, Geography, PSHE, RE and Dance in most school
curricula in the UK. But what about India as a country to
find a partner school?
Links are about partnership, not about using a school to provide
resources. But schools in India love to prepare and send beautiful
resources!
Points to consider
- A large and successful Indian Diaspora in the
UK has a significant presence in the UK and linking with India
fosters greater understanding of the Indian community and can
support community languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali
or Gujurati.
- Both countries have had experience of migration
and diversity which schools can share.
- Performance - especially dance - is meaningful
both the traditional and popular forms (Bollywood!) and opens up
cross-curricular study opportunities.
- Health and fitness is very well understood -
even to Yoga and Meditation being popular on the timetable.
- Indian schools promote an awareness of issues
such as sustainable development, fair trade and waste
management/recycling.
- India has a vast variety of schools ranging from
government-run rural day schools with very basic amenities to high
profile residential schools (both mixed and single
sex) comparable to the best in the world.
- Many Indian schools have access to good
communication facilities and can pick up ICT jargon and techniques
- such as sharing a learning platform.
- India has a tradition of excellence in education
and a large number of students opt to go to college after school.
Many Indian students go to the UK for higher studies each
year.
Getting started
We always have schools in India available. We also have
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
A more formal link
If you already know that you would like to visit India and host
teacher visits in order to build a close and committed
partnership, schools in India will very much welcome this
approach.
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are involved in the
British Council Connecting Classrooms programme.
The British Council International School Award is very popular
in India and also in Sri Lanka - links are seen as very
beneficial for professional development and teaching methodology is
hotly debated in the teaching profession.