Within a year and a half of her arrival in the Lycee Francais in Puducherry, Abhilasha Sinna had picked up enough French to give an impressive speech at a programme held on Tuesday to commemorate the partnership between The Future Foundation School (TFFS) Kolkata and the Lycee Francais. The partnership aims at an exchange of teaching methods, teachers and more students like Ms. Sinna who is a student of TFFS.
“The partnership is a mark of opening up to another culture. Our schools share a lot of common features,” said Aline Charles, Principal, Lycee Francais.
Ranjan Mitter, Principal, TFFS, said, “The partnership gives our students an international perspective. It will also help us gain a better understanding of French culture and values. It opens the way for higher education in France, Europe and Francophone countries.”
A key highlight of the partnership will be the participation of students from TFFS in the ‘excellence in science’ section (Section Scientifique d’Excellence) at the Lycee Francais. The special science section takes students who are exceptional in science after Class 8, for a four-year programme which ends with a Baccalauréat (school leaving diploma awarded by the French Ministry of Education) specialised in science. The section has a bilingual English-French teaching method, with the medium of instruction gradually switching to French. Following Ms. Sinna, three more students have joined the section in July 2014. Students from TFFS are also regular participants in Lycee Francais’ Apprentice Scientist (science competition).
TFFS aims to attain the ‘Label France Education’ (LabelFrancÉducation), an international accreditation granted to foreign schools that promote French language and culture as part of their syllabus. If it is successful, it will become the first Asian school to have the distinction, said Mr. Mitter. The partnership with Lycee Francais is expected to strengthen TFFS’ case.
“This partnership is supported by the French Embassy and its cultural division in Delhi, the French Consulate in Puducherry. The teaching of French abroad is part of France’s foreign policy,” said Ms. Charles. French Consul General Philippe Janvier-Kamiyama agreed. “Education is one way to promote the French language. Students who have studied in French become ‘friends of France’ for life,” he said.
The Aditya Vidyashram school in Puducherry is also in talks with the Lycee Francais on the possibilities of a collaboration in the teaching and evaluation of French language in the school, said principal M. Selvaraj.
A plaque to commemorate the partnership was inaugurated at the school by Mr. Mitter in the presence of Mr. Kamiyama, Ms. Charles, Manoj Das Gupta, Principal, Ashram school, and Consular Councillor Siva Predibane. Education Minister T. Thiagarajan visited the school on the occasion.
“It helps students to gain a better understanding of French culture and opens the way for higher education in France, Europe”
