Passage to India

Best foot forward: teacher Chanchal Sharma leads a dance class

Pupils and teachers at Rishikul Vidyapeeth School in India

Primary schoolchildren from Hessle Road could soon be going on school trips to India.
That’s if plans succeed to develop a long-term link between Chiltern Street primary school and Rishikul Vidyapeeth school, in Haryana, south of New Delhi.
Three teachers from the Indian school visited Hull last month where they gave lessons in Indian dance, music and art to Chiltern Street pupils.
And four Chiltern teachers visited India at Easter when they taught children about traditional British things, and also gained new ideas for their own classrooms.
“We want to make the global citizenship part of the curriculum as interesting as possible,” says Chiltern deputy head Joanna Wood.
“Rather than just using websites and textbooks, we want to use email links, video conferencing, and visits. Hopefully we’ll have exchanges for pupils in the future, not just for teachers.”
Should pupil exchanges take place, children would notice major differences in school life.
One difference is that Indian pupils have to stand up in class to answer questions, before waiting to be told to sit down again.
Also, Indian pupils sit at individual desks, never taking part in group or pair work. And curry is available every day in the school canteen.
As part of their visit the Indian teachers went on a tour of Hull’s regeneration sites. They also brought art work by pupils in India.
The link between the schools is being supported by the British Council.