WorldWise Visit to Vietnam & India 2010
In January/February 2010, Mary McCarthy of WorldWise visited four schools in Vietnam and three schools in India, 5 of which are partnered with Irish schools through the WorldWise programme. Her visit coincided with the visit of 4 students and 2 teachers from Roscommon Community School to their partner, Xuan Dinh High School in Hanoi, and she was able to view first-hand the impact of this visit. She also met with partners CRS in Vietnam to discuss how WorldWise and Cyber Bridges can work together to support Irish/Vietnamese school links. She attended a seminar of Loreto Principals in India in Kolkata, as well as a joint Irish/Indian student conference on human rights in Bratachari Secondary School, which took place during a visit by John Scottus Secondary School students to their partner schools in West Bengal.
Background:
This was the first visit to partner schools in either Vietnam or India. There are currently two WorldWise partnerships between Ireland and Vietnam: Roscommon Community School and Xuan Dinh High School, Hanoi; and Colaiste Dhulaigh and the Sunshine School (as part of the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation), Ho Chi Minh City.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) run an Irish Aid funded school linking programme, Cyber Bridges, between Vietnamese and Irish/American partner schools. It is envisaged that Cyber Bridges will continue to work with Vietnamese schools that are linking with Irish partners, and to support them in sustaining mutually beneficial, educational links.
In India there are two main ‘hubs’ of partner schools involved in WorldWise: one in Chennai and the other in West Bengal. This visit was based in Kolkata, West Bengal, where three partner schools are based: Aikatan Girls Secondary School and Bratachari High School (partnered with John Scottus School, Dublin) and Loreto Sealdah, Kolkata (partnered with Loreto Fermoy, Cork).
Main aim of visit
To evaluate current WorldWise partnerships between Irish and Indian / Vietnamese partner schools; and to provide support to partner schools in India and Vietnam that are participating in WorldWise.
In Vietnam the specific aims of the visit were as follows:
- To evaluate the impact of a WorldWise-funded DEIS student visit by Roscommon Community School to their partner, Xuan Dinh High School, Hanoi.
- To facilitate joint activities between students from these two schools to evaluate their link to date and to gauge their priorities for the future.
- To gain feedback from Vietnamese students and teachers involved in WorldWise on their linking projects and how they would like these projects to develop.
- To meet with other Cyber Bridges schools in South Vietnam (future potential participants in WorldWise) to provide information and advice on the programme and to find out about their experience of linking to date.
- To meet with CRS colleagues to establish how WorldWise and Cyber Bridges can work together to support Irish-Vietnamese school links.
In India the aims were:
- To evaluate and co-facilitate the joint student conference on human rights attended by students and teachers from John Scottus SS, Bratachari HS, Aikatan HS and Loreto Sealdah – held in Bratachari, West Bengal on February 8th-9th.
- To meet with staff and students from all 3 WorldWise partner schools in West Bengal to evaluate their school links to date, discuss how these links will progress and provide support in the form of advice/guidance.
- To attend a 2-day seminar of Loreto Principals in India, to provide input on WorldWise and the potential of networks in linking and development education.
- To observe the model of development education in Loreto Sealdah, Kolkata, which is both a community centre and school and runs a wide range of extra-curricular programmes.
For a full summary report of the visit, please click here
