Date:16/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/16/stories/2006061601870500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Canadian envoy opens school campus

Staff Reporter

`The confluence of Indian and Canadian cultures will flourish at the CIS'

Bangalore: The Canadian High Commissioner to India Lucie Edwards inaugurated the new campus of the Canadian International School (CIS) here on Thursday.

Speaking after inaugurating the new campus, she said with the CIS, Bangalore had an edge over Chennai, which had a Canadian Consulate. "The two cities are competing with each other in the southern region. With CIS, Canadian citizens will not mind settling down in Bangalore," she said.

Ms. Edwards said that she was from a family that gave a lot of importance to education. "Most of my siblings are teachers. My father was disappointed when I became an Ambassador, instead of a teacher," she said.

She said that great teachers and students made a school, and a great facility made imparting education that much easier. "I am a proud student of the Canadian system of education. For the past three years, I have become a proud student of Indian education. My favourite gods are Ganesha and Saraswati. The facility should be dedicated to Saraswati. The confluence of Indian and Canadian cultures will flourish at the CIS," she said.

R.S. Sastri, Director, spoke. Bryan Tinker, principal, welcomed the gathering.

Mr. Sastri told presspersons that two facilities would be opened in Delhi and Maharashtra in another six to eight months. Penelope Abraham, Director of Admissions and Development, said the school would begin functioning in the new campus on August 28. Of the 320 students in the school, only 20 per cent were Indians.The school had 53 teachers — one teacher for every seven students.