ARCHIVED MEDIA RELEASE
PA/14/2003 14 August 2003
Indian teachers find practical benefits from visit to Australia
Fifteen Indian teachers have found their recent visit to Australia under the Australia-India Teachers' Exchange program a learning experience that will find practical applications in their teaching methods and approaches.
At a function hosted by the Australian High Commission today, the teachers, drawn from schools in Delhi and Ghaziabad, praised the exchange program as beneficial to both Australian and Indian teachers in learning about each other's teaching methods, cultures and societies.
The Australia-India Teacher Exchange program is organised by the Asia Education Foundation (AEF) with support from Australian Education International (AEI) India and funded by the Australia-India Council (AIC). Since it started six years ago, it has provided opportunities for Australian and Indian teachers learn about the education systems in both countries.
The exchange program also supports developing curricula about India in the participating Australian schools and vice versa.
The Australian Deputy High Commissioner, Ms Michelle Marginson, said that she was impressed by the enthusiasm that the exchange program generates in the school academic community, both in India and Australia.
"These school teacher exchanges play a very important role in reinforcing the strong links between India and Australia in the field of education," said Ms Marginson.
The teachers, who undertook the visit in June this year, toured several schools and educational agencies in Australia. They also met the Australian teachers who had visited them in Delhi in January this year under the exchange program, and stayed in their homes, getting a taste of Australian family life, besides spending a few days with them in their classrooms.
The teachers found the environment of self-learning in Australian schools impressive. They said that the exchange programme had opened new vistas of thought and perception, as also new ways of looking at various facets of learning.
Mrs Ameeta Mulla Wattal, Principal, Springdales School, said the exchange program "truly celebrates the spirit of learning."
Mrs Amita Mishra, Headmistress, Delhi Public School, East of Kailash, said: "By exposing Indian and Australian teachers to a first-hand experience of each others' countries, there will be a definite enhancement of the understanding and respect of each other's cultures."
For further details, please contact Ms Anu Jain, Education Promotion Officer, Australian High Commission, New Delhi, Phone 26888 223, extension 172.