Russian language abroad: Virtual Russian language courses launched in India

The first virtual lesson of Russian language, which brought together about 200 Indians from 14 districts of the Indian state of Kerala, took place at the Distance Education Center in Trivandrum (India).

According to the Yelena Shtapkina, an expert at the Russian Center of Science and Culture in New Delhi, the project was organized by the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Trivandrum and the IT@School company, which acts under the control of the state’s government. The opening ceremony of courses was timed for celebrations of 35^th anniversary of the foundation of the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Trivandrum.

“Broadcasting of the lesson, which enables the teachers to communicate with students, was provided by the governmental satellite Edusat. Due to the new technology, having minimum of experts of Russian language and literature, we will be able to cover several hundreds of students across the state”, – said Ratish Nair, the honorary consul of Russian Federation in Trivandrum, Director of the Russian Center of Science and Culture.

Lessons will take place on Saturdays during the whole year. The organizers hope to considerably improve the popularity of the Russian language in the state. It is currently on the curriculum at three universities and four state schools.

The Deputy Head of the Federal Agency of Rossotrudnichestvo (the Federal Agency on the CIS, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation) Alexander Chesnokov said: “It goes without a doubt, that the amount of those wanting to study Russian language will be increasing with each year according to development of Russian-Indian strategic partnership. More new fields are adding the list of scopes of mutual cooperation, this opens new career prospects for people, who have a good command of Russian”.

The Head of the representation of Rossotrudnichestvo in India, Fyodor Rozovsky, stressed that there were no teachers of Russian language in Kerala, therefore Russian language and Russian literature wer popularized just with efforts of Indian specialists.