This year again, as has been the tradition for the past three, 15 students from Bendemeer Senior Secondary School, Singapore, accompanied by 4 teachers, have come to Bala Vidya Mandir, Chennai as part of an exchange programme. The aim of the programme is to promote cross-country learning of ideas, teaching-learning practices and, in general, to know each other’s culture better.
The Singaporean students sit in class with us when lessons go on. Here, at BVM, learning is not teacher-oriented, but pupil-focused. For each lesson, a teacher’s explanation is followed by a video presentation showed on monitors provided in all classrooms from 1st standard to 12th standard. These sessions are highly interactive, and add greatly to the fun of learning.
However, isn’t it true that ‘all work and no play make Jack a dull boy’? So, on Saturday, the 1st of November, students of 9th standard in BVM along with the new-found friends from Singapore assembled in the school campus at 6 in the morning. This was because we were all set to go on an excursion to the temple-town of Kanchipuram and Sriperumbudur en route!
We started from school at around 8, thanks to a small delay of one of the 3 buses, and them only A.C. one. Most of the boys and all the girls had, in an act of selfishness, earlier occupied the 2 buses which had arrived on time. These 2 were the non-A.C. ones! They later felt very disappointed and thus paid heavily for it! The others (including me) were inside the school, playing volleyball and basketball when the greedy ones were starting to warm the seats!
We enjoyed the trip to Kanchipuram, which lasted around 2 hours. 15 Singapore students joined 95 of us from BVM in our exciting journey. We reached Kanchipuram and visited 2 temples, for the original schedule of 6 temples could not be completed as time refused to permit. Our school had earlier provided us with breakfast at school. Now, we had lunch at Hotel Saravana Bhavan.
From there, we proceeded to a small-scale silk weaving factory. 4 skilled artisans sincerely worked in 2 rooms of around 150 square feet, producing silk cloth in beautiful colours. I realized the great difference in labour between customized handmade production like exquisite silk and large-scale highly automated manufacture like mobile phone parts.
On the way, we halted at Rajiv Gandhi Memorial at Sriperumbudur, which was simply superb. The stunning landmark for our former celebrated Prime Minister boasted of a 30-metre tall Indian flag in the middle of a beautiful circular park surrounded by 6 pillars of varied designs. His brilliant achievements were creatively carved on a piece of rock for us to learn more about him. The martyr’s memorial inspired in us the need for peace amidst the growing violence of our times. It is a definite must-visit.
Overall, our trip was excellent, and was well-organized by our efficient school staff!
However, this is not all. The Singaporeans are treated with memorable visits, with Class 9, to the Birla Planetarium, the Theosophical Society and old-age homes like Kaakkum Karangal. Thanks to them, we too get a welcome break from our demanding routine of study in school!
We look forward to more exchanges with the Singaporean students as we advance in our growing friendship with them.