US EDUCATION OFFICIAL TO VISIT PUNJAB, HARYANA

WASHINGTON:A top American education official will visit India to develop an international teacher and student exchange programme among Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the US state of Indiana.

“This will be the very first initiative by Indiana with India. Currently there are only a few exchange programmes with other countries across the globe,” Chairman of Sikhs PAC Gurinder Singh Khalsa said after his meeting in this connection with Indiana State superintendent of education Jennifer McCormic on Wednesday.

McCormick’s visit to India is expected to be later this fall, he said, adding the exchange programme among school students and teachers would have a longterm impact in building peopleto-people relationship between the two countries.

“We should have a mechanism of exchange programmes for school students and teachers. This will give exposure to our students and teachers,” Khalsa said. Indiana is working on producing a 90-minute documentary to inform student residents about the diversity of cultures, and showcase international citizen communities in Indiana. According to the Indiana department of education, there are currently 375 spoken languages registered with the state. Last year, ex-Indiana superintendent of education announced introduction of Sikh history in the state’s high school history curriculum.