The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : American education group on a relationship-building mission

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

American education group on a relationship-building mission

Staff Reporter

It is visiting private, public schools in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai It is visiting private, public schools in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai

BEYOND BORDERS: Barry Clough, head of the American International School, welcoming members of the National Association of Independent Schools, in Chennai on Friday.

CHENNAI: A group of 54 schoolteachers, administrators and professionals from across the United States are on a three-day whirlwind tour of Chennai.

The group, representing the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), visiting private and public schools in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, is looking to build a lasting relationship or take up a joint project with them.

The group, called Delegation for Diversity, visited a variety of schools in New Delhi: a public school, an institute for the visually impaired, a municipal council school and a project sponsored by the American Embassy School in a slum.

The delegation will visit tsunami-affected regions south of Chennai and interact with non-governmental organisation representatives working with the families there.

Gene Batiste, vice-president, Leadership Education and Diversity, says, "The visiting members have their own projects with private and government schools. We would like to do student and teacher exchange programmes."

The visitors were impressed with the Pardada-Pardadi Girls Vocational School in Bulandshahar, 70 miles from Delhi.

The school was founded in 2000 by former boss of a multinational company Du Pont, Sam Singh.

"It has changed the way the girls view their lives," says Nandini Dutta, a teacher from Rutgers Preparatory School in New Jersey.

Fungai Kanogoiwa, education consultant of NAIS, says the visit is part of the organisation's global education effort. NAIS, headquartered in Washington DC, has 1,300 member schools across continents.

The member schools develop their own curriculum and their teachers themselves come from diverse backgrounds lending an elitist charm to the schools.

Sushmita Hodges, a first generation Indian, teaches history at the 107-year-old St. Paul Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota.

She has designed courses for students of classes X and XII that include Asian and Indian history in particular.

The group gathered at the American International School in Taramani on Friday for a brief introduction to South India.

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