The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : They add global colour and character to some Chennai schools

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Monday, Jan 05, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

They add global colour and character to some Chennai schools

Meera Srinivasan

These schools observe different national days and offer different cuisines in their mess

— File photo

GLOBAL PLATFORM: Students of the American International School in Chennai perform at a cultural show. For international students, the city has become a second home.

CHENNAI: Expatriates are not only contributing to Chennai’s growing cosmopolitan culture, but are also adding to the global character of some of its schools. The city now has nearly a dozen reputable international schools catering for foreign nationals living here.

St. John’s International Residential School, for instance, has children of nearly 22 nationalities.

“Earlier, we had Singaporeans, Malaysians and Sri Lankans. Now, we have Koreans and children from countries such as Thailand, China, parts of the United Kingdom, Dubai, Indonesia, and South Africa,” said R. Kishore Kumar, senior principal of the school.

The school follows the Central Board of Secondary Education syllabus, which is valued globally, he said. “Parents also appreciate the culture of Indian education and the safety aspect here.” In 2008 alone, the school had over 60 students from China and Korea enrolling.

Arthi Ganesh, managing trustee of Vael’s Billabong High International School agrees that there is a considerable increase in the number of students of foreign nationalities seeking admission in their school.

“We have students from countries like Japan, Korea and Russia. Their parents are employees of MNCs, companies such as Hyundai… many of them work for international airlines, too,” she said.

The children adapt to the learning environment very well.

“They are very academically-inclined and work very hard,” she added.

Interestingly, these schools observe different national days and also offer different cuisines in their mess to make the children feel at home.

“If we have 50 students of a particular nationality, we hire a chef exclusively for them,” Mr. Kishore Kumar said.Sri Vidhya Academy, a relatively new school, is also receiving more queries from foreigners.

“The number of enquiries and enrolments has gone up since we started,” says Nanjil R. Kennedy, chairman of the institution.

School principal S. Muthukrishnan says, “The presence of students of different nationalities certainly enriches the learning environment.”

The most endearing factor about students of other nationalities is their ability to adapt easily to the local culture and food, according to M.V.M. Sasikumar, director, Velammal International School.

Schools such as the American International School and the British International School also cater to a significant number of foreign nationals in the city, including diplomats and senior officials of MNCs.

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