16.06.2010
German-Indian student exchange to be stepped up

Exchanges between school students in Germany and India are still few and far between. The Robert Bosch Foundation in Stuttgart aims to change all that by providing financial support for student exchanges as part of a pilot project between three schools in Baden-Württemberg and three schools in India. The exchange, which will take place for the first time in autumn of this year, will receive flanking scientific support from the University of Education in Weingarten near Ravensburg. The project is intended to answer any misgivings which parents, school students and teachers may have about travelling to India and aims to inspire other schools and institutions to seek intercultural encounters and friendship with partners in India.

The school tandems were selected competitively. They include the Mosbach/Odenwald Trade School and the Child Guidance Centre for disabled children in Hyderabad/India. The latter not only offers a school for children with learning difficulties, but also runs a broad-based spectrum of education and training courses for young women (in classes 11/12) focusing in particular on physiotherapy and nursing. Both schools are dedicated to working with and promoting the integration of disabled people in the two countries. The Markgrafen Intermediate School in Emmendingen was also selected and, together with the Seedling Public School in Jaipur, will explore the world of work in Germany and India in the context of a consciously sought "intercultural" encounter. Finally, the Ostalb Upper Secondary School in Bopfingen has found a competent partner school in the College of Dance and Music in Varanasi to run a "Festival of the senses between two cultures" under the name "Seeing - Hearing - Dancing - Smelling - Tasting".

The aim of the pilot project according to the initiator of the German-Indian school partnership in Baden-Württemberg, Dr. Margret Ruep, Rector of the University of Education in Weingarten, is to make a contribution to "glocalisation". Dr. Ruep adds that "thinking globally and acting locally leads to global thinking and action". This development is essential for a growing awareness of an approach to sustainability which reconciles economic efficiency, ecological equilibrium and social justice.