Carmel Convent School has been selected for a joint project by the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Goethe-Institute / Max Mueller Bhavan (MMB) New Delhi. The Robert Bosch Stiftung is funding five selected German-Indian school partnerships during a pilot phase in 2011 - 12. The schools are supported by MMB from a conceptual, organizational, and intercultural standpoint throughout every stage of the program.
The program promotes cooperation between Indian and German schools. The program consists of project work carried out over a period of one year and two exchange phases integrated in the project work.
1st Phase of the project in Germany
15 Carmelites have been working on this project since the beginning of the year along with their German counterparts. The topic is ‘Environment’ and deals with the climate and forests of India and Germany.
As part of the project, the Indian students while in Germany on the exchange program, visited the NEO pellets factory and JRS timber mill. They also went to the forests of Ellwangen, the island Mainau and island Atmuhlsee. The Indian and German students together made projects based on the topics they were given and put them up on the last day.
This project being part of the exchange program provides a platform for the students to be creative, making this exchange more educational. The students will be working on this project for the whole of 2011-2012.
2nd phase of the project in India
During the month of November, the German and Indian students along with their teachers conducted several activities here in India.
1st November - TERI.
Teri is a green campus centre conducting research and various activities for utilization of finite earth resources leading to sustainable development. The students were shown a presentation on the campus and also were able to observe the advancements in technology in the field of environment.
4th-6th November - Lucknow.
During their trip to Lucknow students visited the Kukrail Forest and Ghariyal Conservation Centre, to understand the woodland ecosystem and study the Ghariyal Conservation Project. They visited mango orchards and interviewed mango farmers, enquiring about trade, working conditions and the challenges faced. They also visited the National Botanical Garden to observe the rare varieties of flora.
11th November – I.A.R.I.
The trip to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (Pusa Road) to learn about the scientific methods of cultivation proved to be an extremely enlightening one for the students working on the Bosch project. They saw the systems of drip irrigation and water treatment, as well as hybridisation and cross breeding experiments.
13th November - Putting it all together
All the research and study that was done during the second phase of the project was displayed as an exhibition in the school auditorium in the form of charts and models.
