Teacher set to swap city for rural Malawi

A PRIMARY school teacher is set to swap Edinburgh for a remote area of an African country on a teaching exchange.

Dhamyanthi Sangaraban will head off to the Dedza region of Malawi tomorrow with the Global Teachers Programme, an organisation which helps improve teaching in rural schools.

The 30-year-old Blackhall Primary School teacher will share her skills with the teachers at Ngwaya Junior Primary school.

She said: "It's quite a rural area, quite mountainous. They don't have many NGOs working in the area. I'm so excited and I hope that what I do will be a benefit to the schools out there and I hope what I learn will be of benefit when I get back."

Dhamyanthi, of Craigmount, is looking forward to exploring the cultural differences between the UK and Malawi. She said: "Social greetings are very important. When you go to a meeting there, it's customary to talk about your families before beginning."

Three other teachers from Edinburgh and Midlothian, Shiraz Newall-Watson from South Morningside Primary, Kirsty MacNab from George Heriot's School and Jill Robinson from Newton Grange Primary, will also be taking part in the exchange.