Hornbill Festival 2017 to have British connect with a series of cultural activities
KOHIMA, OCTOBER 26: In its effort to strengthen better relation with the North East region of India, a three-member team from the British Council India is on a three-day visit to Nagaland.
The team, led by its director Alan Gemmel, OBE, and accompanied by Dr Debanjan Chakrabarti, Director, East India and Joydeep Bordoloi, Head English Partnerships, East India, interacted with a host of Naga musicians and entrepreneurs this evening at RCEMPA, Jotsoma.
Interacting with media persons after the interaction, the director of British council, India, Gemmel said the team is here to develop new connections with the Nagas.
Informing about his meeting with Chief Minister TR Zeliang early this morning, Gemmel announced that the Hornbill Festival 2017 will have a British connect with a series of cultural activities. Upon the invitation of the Chief Minister, the head of the British Council India would also be making his presence to this year’s Hornbill Festival.
“We are very keen to develop stronger partnerships with cultural institutions across India, particularly in the northeast and Nagaland,” Gemmel said adding that 2017 would be the year for India and Britain to develop new cultural exchange programmes.Mention be made that the Prime Ministers of India and Britain have announced 2017 as a year for exchanging cultural ties, and this is aimed at developing better relation and new connections between the two countries in the near future.
“There is a long and rich set of connection that exists between Britain and Nagaland. And I hope that we will be able to develop new connections through music, fashion, educational relationships,” he said adding that the British Council would render its best to connect where there are opportunities.
The British Council, as part of its educational connections, also offers scholarship to students all over India, including the North East region and Nagaland.
“Our aim is to connect with millions of people across India and find ways to excite them and inspire them about working and connecting with the UK,” Gemmel said who is viting Nagaland for the first time.
The British Council’s main objective is to develop cultural exchange programmes, educational relationships, teach English language and further to administer English exams.
The interaction programme at RCEMPA was also attended by Gugs Chishi from Music Task Force and Neichute Doulo, coordinator (CEO) of Entrepreneurs Associates, among others.
CM discusses tie-ups
Chief Minister TR Zeliang discussed possibilities of tie-ups with the Government of UK in the fields of education, language development, music, culture and tourism, a CMO release said.
He was interacting with Alan Gemmel, OBE, Head of British Council in India who called on him this morning at his residence.
Gemmel revealed that the British Council sponsors more than 200 scholarships every year from all over the country to pursue higher studies in the Universities in the UK but that not many are from the North Eastern region and expressed his desire to see more students from the region avail these scholarships.
The Chief Minister suggested creating more awareness about this scholarship scheme among the student community of the region.
The British Council also proposed training of teachers to impart further training to other teachers. The Council is involved in Teacher Development Programme in 13 States in India and has shown interest in tying up with the Government of Nagaland.
The Chief Minister suggested incorporating Skill Development in the curricula of schools so that by the time student matriculate they would have some selected skills to rely on to earn their livelihoods.
The Chief Minister also assured the visiting delegates that he would find out ways and means with the NEC to sponsor such a programme in the State and expressed his desire to go for Human Capital Development.
