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HRD ministry giving student exchange programs a meaningful spin
The HRD ministry has mooted a novel student exchange program where students from well running urban schools will visit their rural counterparts and vice-versa.
Student exchange programs have always been cornerstone to increased learning and bringing about a positive personal change in students. But why is it that every time we hear about student exchange programs we start envisioning international exchanges? The HRD Ministry is going to stand this thinking on its head if its initiative involving student exchange programmes between city schools and those in villages goes through.
It is learnt that the ministry has already sought a list of "willing" schools from organisations like the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and CBSE, so that an initial panel of around 100 rural and urban schools can be formed.
The Smriti Irani-led ministry is planning to begin "pilots" in states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and West Bengal and has also written to state governments asking them to identify some urban and rural schools for the student exchange programme.
Under the reimagined student exchange program, students from rural schools will visit their urban counterparts for a week and vice versa, while both institutions may jointly execute projects in various fields, ranging from story-telling to problem solving. It is hoped that the better functioning schools would be able to identify areas in which they can help raise the standards of the countryside ones.
The senior official said that the idea for devising a scheme that encourages partnerships among students had been first mooted at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"While one school may be better placed in terms of infrastructure, facilities or teachers, the emphasis of the partnership is on equality, ensuring that the facilities of the better off school are accessible to its counterpart," officials said.
This is an excellent example of out-of-the-box and need based thinking. With one stroke this initiative will create a strong partnership between rural and urban schools and create a network of students across the nation. While on one hand the rural schools will benefit by coming in touch with bigger, more efficient urban schools, their teaching and learning methodologies, the urban school can always learn more about out-of-the class learning.