The Fabindia School has partnered with several international organizations to expose the students to other cultures. Mrs. Parinita Ranpal, the school Principal, strongly believes that this cross-cultural exposure starting at an early age greatly contributes to the students' personal development. She says, "Because of the interactions with people of all parts of the world throughout their schooling, the Fabindia students are confident and much more prepared to face the outside world than the students of any other school in this area."
Putney Student Travel : India Community Service Program
Based in Putney, VT USA, the Putney Student Travel Program is a summer cultural immersion program for American High School students and has been sending students to The Fabindia School every July since 2003 as part of their India Community Service Program. The Putney students spend several weeks at the school interacting with the Fabindia students, volunteer teaching and leading various school enhancement projects.
Some of the past projects completed at the school include building roads, digging trenches, painting classrooms, planting trees, teaching English and drama classes, building a basketball court and providing new roofs for the student toilets. There are always sports competitions, plays and time for informal exchanges and lots of fun. The few weeks shared are an intense experience for all of the participants and stretch and expand the minds of all the students.
"I felt so blessed to be helping children that not only needed it but were so grateful for it. They constantly thanked us with the greatest respect, which only added to the amount of fun we had there….Of course the primary reason for the trip is doing community service, but along the way you slowly learn things you never could imagine and all the struggle pays off."
- Regan Lee, Putney Student July 2007 |
The Advent School
The Advent school is a non-religious, independent primary school for students from age four through Sixth Grade based in Boston, MA USA. The Advent School and the Fabindia School have shared many cross-cultural exchanges, including an ongoing pen-pal relationship.
In 2004, then Fabindia School Principal Jayant Biswas visited the school and in May 2007 Bim Bissell and Katherine Allen visited the fifth grade Advent students, representing the Fabindia School. From the Advent School, fifth grade teacher Christine Size and school administrator Arati Pandit visited the Fabindia School in December 2006. One outcome of these visits were video recordings from the students to share with their friends across the globe of music and dance performances showcasing their respective talents and traditions.
Also in 2006 the two schools decided to create a partnership for the National Association of Independent School’s (NAIS) 20/20 Challenge. Both the schools are working towards the promise of Education for All which was identified as one of the global problems in J.F. Rischard’s book, "High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them". In response to his book, NAIS challenged its schools to work in international teams of two, to address one of Rischard’s 20 problems. Fabindia and Advent School have chosen what they believe is most pertinent to both the schools- Education for All. Together, these schools firmly believe that Education is a right to which all children are entitled. Now it is in the hands of our students to generate strategies, which can have a real impact.
Loomis Chaffee School, Windsor, CT USA & Girls Learn International, USA
Girls Learn International (GLI) is a US-based non profit organization with chapters at high schools across the USA that involve students to engage in the international effort for global girls education. The Fabindia School is the Partner Classroom with the GLI chapter at Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, CT. Each of these Partner Classrooms is engaged in an effort to afford quality education to girls in a community that has historically denied girls equal access to education. In addition to a pen-pal relationship, the students at Loomis Chaffee also host fundraisers for the girls' scholarship fund at The Fabindia School. |