Herald: How do you plan to guide the India office of British Council since being here from May 2016?
GEMMELL: 2017 is what we’ve called the Year of India-UK year of culture and the focus is to bring a convergence in culture exchange. The focuses is digital culture and reconnect with India and inspire people through this new relationship. We’re working with an Indian playwright and theater director Royston Abel and the idea is create two apps namely Mix the play and Mix the City. Mix the play will allow individuals to access Shakespeare’s play, know the props for a scene, get the dialogues and lot more, everything of Shakespeare in an app. Mix the city is 14 musicians from Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata who bring together they’re experiences from each of their metro cities and their music to promote Indian music.
HERALD: There’s always that sense of animosity sometimes as Britain as the former colonial rulers of India and how do you work to get rid of that tag?
GEMELL: The only way to get put all that behind is to have the strongest connect and an engagement through culture and education. A cultural exchange always excites people especially today in the 21st Century. There’s great Indian culture to take to the UK and amazing British culture and history and tradition of the 1930s and before to bring to India and let Indians have an experience of the same. Lots of youngsters in India and UK who need to reconnect and the best platform is the smartphone. 2017 is about thinking innovative and exploiting Youtube and other medums to showcase contemporary Britain and India. Both countries have a lot in history to learn from.
HERALD: Post-Brexit, there’s always concern if Britain is open to Indian students and also if UK is still an option for Indians seeking employment in Europe.
GEMELL: UK is always a great place for those who ideas. And for the large young Indian student population, UK has a lot to offer through its renowned universities. Indian students can always benefit from British universities, which an experience by itself being centers or rather host to global ideas and global community. And if you have the experience and the requirements, UK will always be the best palce for Indian to be employed post study. 50,000 Students from 200 nationalities have made UK their home for education and also an avenue to work.
HERALD: And what does British Council have to offer to India?
GEMELL: We have office in nine cities and resources people across India. We’ve shifted a large part of our operations online and our British Council library which is a massive resource is available to Indians online. We offer training for teachers, short term course in the English language, 100% scholarships and grants for Indian wanting to study in the UK and lot more to offer. But our focus now is online rather than having physical British Council centers across India.
HERALD: Alan Gemell definitely seems to have chalked out his work for his tenure?
GEMELL: I’m going to be in India for the next five years. Right now I’m touring India and just meeting people which includes our trainers, colleagues, our staff, Chief Ministers, bureaucrats, teachers, just about anybody that we can partner and have partnered with in the past. My focus is education and culture. I’m very inspired and humbled by the work done till date. One million India teachers have been trained by the British Council. These one million teachers from government schools have reached out to 35 million Indian students and I want to do more to improve our connect in India.
