Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Students interact with Swiss school

— Photo: G. Moorthy

Novel experience: Madurai students videoconferencing with a school in Zurich, Switzerland.

MADURAI: Internet-based video conferencing became the platform to deliver a message of friendship, integrity, exchange of love, social values and team spirit among children of two distant nations.

To commemorate the tenth year of its inception, MADURAI SEED, a non-governmental organisation working to support and empower underprivileged children, and Swiss Zurich Freudenberg Kantonsschule, Switzerland — via online conferencing — entered into an agreement to exchange educational, cultural and social values here recently.

Students of schools and colleges dressed in a specially designed bright yellow tees carrying the message, ‘this cloth stands to promote education’ waved hands in joy which was shown on a giant screen to students of Swiss Zurich Freudenberg Kantonsschule (Kanton School) who wore bright orange t-shirts and responded cheerfully.

Laura Villiger, teacher, and John Nicholas, Principal of Kanton School, interacted with A.S. Karthik Bharathi, managing trustee, and other friends here in SEED. Students of Kanton School and volunteers of SEED exchanged pleasantries via online. A documentary film and cultural programmes made by SEED volunteers were shown to the students at Kanton School.

This tie-up had its precedents in the form of a long-term project on global ethics, economics, ecology and education. It focuses on the issue of the global textile industry, and the Kanton School would be conducting modules in various subjects and at various points in the curriculum to raise student awareness of the ethical, economic implications linked with the textile industry.

The Kanton School, to make this all the more tangible for the students, is working with Madurai Seed, and Switcher, a producer of fair-trade knitwear based in Switzerland and Tirupur.

Laura Villiger had visited Madurai and conducted English language classes for students in Karumbalai, a slum here.

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