Twenty students of Christ Nagar International School (CNIS) are an excited lot. They are about to embark on a two-week trip to Germany as part of a student exchange programme to “promote cultural and personal ties among students of the two countries”, according to school authorities.
Over the past few months, the students of CNIS have been collaborating with those of Hohenstaufen Gymnasium in Kaiserslautern, a city in south-west Germany. “The topic we have been working on is the political, cultural and social changes after the IT revolution,” said Ranjith Padmakumar, a class 11 student of the school, who is part of the student delegation.
“Here, we have all been visiting different places - hospitals, banks, government departments etc - to find out how IT has changed the way they work.” Accompanied by two teachers, the 20 students will leave for Frankfurt on Sunday and will be welcomed at the Hohenstaufen Gymnasium on Monday.
Their itinerary for the two weeks is jam-packed and includes attending IT workshops, trips to IT companies and an old iron casting factory.
They will also be introduced to the history and culture of the region. That apart, the students will also be expected to attended regular classes at the German school.“On our part, we hope to introduce the festivals of Diwali and Onam there. We will also be having a ‘Khadi Day’,” said Preeti K, one of the accompanying teachers. “Also, each of our students will be staying with a German family while there.”
The travel expenses are being met in part by Bosch Foundation through Goethe Institute and Max-Mueller Bhavan in New Delhi as the project had been initiated by Goethe-Zentrum Trivandrum, the German cultural institution. Each participant student and teacher has been given a sum of 500 euros. In a similar move last year, an exchange programme had been arranged between the students of Trivandrum International School (TRINS) and Herzog-Christoph-Gymnasium School in Beilstein.
