The initiative aims at strengthening relations between the two nations through various exchange programmes.
The British Council is going to start an 18-month cultural partnership review programme involving members of the council of India and the United Kingdom (UK).
“The cultural partnership review between India and the UK will help in strengthening the relationship between the two countries,” said Stephan Roman, the new regional director for South Asia of the British Council.
He was interacting with reporters on Saturday during his maiden visit to Pune.
Prior to taking up this role, Roman was the regional
director for West Europe and North America based in
Brussels. He was also one of the founding members of the Global Knowledge Partnership, a consortium of 50 organisations addressing the challenges of knowledge for development.
Associated with the British Council since 1978, he dwelled at length about plans of strengthening the India-UK relationship, besides various school projects, during an interaction with the media.
“This is my first visit to Pune and it was exhilarating to see the British Council Library functioning here,” he said. He said that the cultural partnership review programme will include a panel discussion, online survey, organisation mapping and lots of collaboration in terms of theatre, music, art and culture.
“It’s pretty exciting to know about each other’s countries as both these nations share their history,” he said.
“The programme involves face to face teaching, democratisation of English language, so that English can be made accessible to more people. We are going to collaborate with major national institutes of arts and recognised universities,” added Roman.
The cultural partnership review also includes ‘Project English’ that aims at improving spoken English among students of standards XI and XII.
It was started in Tamil Nadu and has covered West Bengal. Maharashtra is the third state in the pipeline where they are planning to include schools run by the Pune municipal corporation (PMC) and some tribal schools.
Apart from this, ‘Connecting Classrooms’ is another school project where one school in India will connect to another school in the UK.
Moreover, there is the ‘Digital India’ project where digital technology will be used to bridge the gap between the two countries.
“Students will be encouraged to come and study in the UK. Through business, cultural exchange and travel programmes, the UK will get to know more about India,” said Kajari Mitra, manager, British Council Library, Pune.
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