Today we visited a great school called the Loreto Day School Sealdah (http://www.loretosealdah.com) The main thing was the Rainbow Program that takes orphans, street kids, rural migrants, etc... and gives them a place to stay at the school while paring them with their more well off students who work with them part of the school day. They also train teachers in more student centered teaching approaches. I was really impressed and saw they are making quite a difference in the lives of kids from all different levels of society.
After a sweat drenched cab ride back to "our school" I did a brief workshop with some teachers on implementing 21st Century Skills into the curriculum. The day ended with a cultural singing and dance presentation by students and staff. Evidently not only is everyone in India an Engineer or Scientist, but they can all sing and dance amazingly. Another great part was the informal interactions with students afterwards that was outside of a classroom and just some time to talk with some great kids.
As if that was not enough, we followed that up with a visit to the Queen Victoria memorial and museum about live in India during the British rule. If you have heard car horns in India it is no surprise that when the museum is closing they blow whistles at you until you leave.
Throw in a little shopping, and it was quite a full day in India (are there any other kind?)
Not in Kolkata, for sure
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