'Grandpa Wen' spends time with school kids

Hindi-Chini bhai bhai was the lesson students learnt when Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao played teacher to them at Tagore International School on Wednesday.

Probably his only non-political undertaking in his three-day visit to the capital, Wen interacted with nearly 50 students of the school. He spoke for nearly an hour on Rabindranath Tagore, Mandarin, Chinese culture and calligraphy to the students.

After interacting with the students, aged between 11 and 13, Wen gifted a set of books and audio-visual material of Mandarin language to the school after authorities informed him about their plan to offer Mandarin as a foreign language option to the students from April 2011.

Acting on cue given by the Student Body President Abhishek Sanskritik, the students addressed the premier 'Grandpa Wen'.

"At the start of the session, I asked him if we could call him 'Grandpa Wen' and he said yes and added that students back in China called him 'Grandpa' as well. In our interaction with him, we asked him various questions on what China thought of India. His answers showed a deep understanding and friendship between the two countries," Sanskritik said.

The school was most plausibly chosen for Wen's visit because of its name. Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore had visited China in the 1920s

and spent time with the Chinese literary circuit.

Wen stated that Tagore was still a popular author in China. Besides, Tagore International School is the only school in India which offers an exchange programme of students and faculty with China.

"We have been having this exchange programme for the past four years. Our students and faculty have visited the Shanghai Art and Culture Fair and the Shanghai Expo," School Principal, Madhulika Sen told rediff.com.

The school also had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Jinyuan Senior High School, which is ranked amongst the best language schools in Shanghai, three years ago to teach students of both schools through video conferencing.

"Every Thursday, our Yoga teacher teaches Yoga to students in Shanghai's Jinyuan School and every Friday, a teacher from there teaches Calligraphy to our students. We are also planning to introduce dance classes through video conferencing soon," Sen said.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced plans to introduce Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language in its 11,000 affiliated schools from Class 6 onwards next year. Sen said that there is already some interest amongst students to learn the language.