From 25th September to 14th October NCI was engaged with a 19 member student and teacher group from NCI member university, Linkoping University, Sweden. The students are training to become teachers. NCI has arranged their trip to Varanasi, Darjeeling and Kolkata both in terms of practical matters as well as academic engagements.

In Varanasi, we cooperated with Karlstad’s University’s local resources, and the following trips were arranged for the group:

• Visit to Weaving Village and government Hindi medium school (led by Dr Aakash, Political Science Department, Shri Agrasen Kanya P G College, Varanasi)
• Visit to Smith School + Ramlila
• Visit to Basanta college for women
• Visit to Sarnath and drop to Mughal Sarai station for the train to Darjeeling

In Kolkata we arranged

• One day academic event at Bandhan Konnagar with inputs from University of Calcutta, Bandhan Bank and Sister Nivedita University, Kolkata. Students got a chance to interact with the Chariman and Managing Director of Bandhan Bank, Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh
• Visit to two slums – Basanti slum and a Howah slum
• Visit to Swayam, an NGO supporting victims of domestic violence