International Links

Interview with a Headmaster of a School in India 

As part of George Stephenson's plan towork with schools in foreign countries we have worked with the British Councilpart ofConnecting Classrooms project we are nowcurriculum links and identifyingto work with students in India. As part of the project we were visited by an education governor an Indian headmaster and an Indian teacher. This is what they had to say.

Q. Where do you come from in India?
A. We come from a place in South West India called Kerala. If you imagine that India is like an ice-cream on a cone with the Himalayas at the top, we would be at the bottom in the middle; far away from the coast. It is quite a nice place and is only a short walk away from the school which I work.

Q. What school do you come from?
A. The school where I work is called Glovt LP School in Mudar, Pal Akkad DT Kerala in India. It is very different to schools here and has a large number of pupils compared to here. There are lots of differences.

Q. How does your school differ from ours?
A. Our school building is very small, with few facilities compared to schools in the UK. We have no playground or hall. Our school is very academically focused all the way through from a young age. Also, our school is very strict, with little behaviour issues, even though there are large classes with from 40-45 pupils per class. This school is huge compared to ours; we would love to have everything that you have here. You are very lucky to have the things you have here.

Q. What subjects do you teach?
A. In Glovt LP School we teach the same subjects like you English, Maths and Science, but we also teach Environmental Studies, which you don't teach here. We teach our Regional language as each separate part of India has their own language, so all schools in India teach their own language, however, it is compulsory that schools teach the National Language of India, called Hindi.

Q. What have you learnt from schools in the UK?
A. We have learnt how to smile and be happy. Also, because we live so far away from the coast, we hardly see the beaches so that has been a great factor of our trip. It has been a great experience for us being here in the UK and we have learnt a lot that we can take back to our own schools and improve them.

Thank you for giving us this opportunity to view your school and we have thoroughly enjoyed our trip here.

By Peter Anderson, Daniel Wright and Hope Laverty