Foreign students with villagers in Dhanbad on Tuesday. Picture by Gautam Dey

A group of eight students from different parts of the world is camping in Dhanbad for over a week now to carry out research on different issues, including women’s empowerment and child development.

The visiting students — Hannah Lennox and Phillip from UK, Sany Cugny from Switzerland, Theodore Crima from Romania, Khar Jin Sin from Malaysia, Annya from Russia and Anar from Ukraine — are here as a part of an AIESEC (Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales) project.

Based on the findings of the survey a final report suggesting ways to bring improvement in the socio-economic status of women will be submitted to the state government.

AIESEC is an international organisation of students and young executives.

These interns who arrived in here on July 17 are currently working on two different projects — women empowerment and youth employment — both funded by Dhanbad-based NGO Whiz Mantra.

During their two-month-long stay, these youngsters will interact with around 3,000 women including those from nine blocks of the district — Jharia, Dhanbad, Baliapur, Nirsa, Tundi, Purbi Tundi, Topchanchi, Baghmara and Govindpur — in order to ascertain the literacy level and their socio-economic status.

Project co-ordinator of Whiz Mantra Sucharita Mukherjee said that the students would be working over a half a dozen similar projects. The NGO is also taking care of the intern’s accommodation and other requirements.

Mukherjee accompanied the students during their meeting with different officers like district education officer Dhamadeo Rai and DC Prashant Kumar on July 19.

According to AIESEC programme, internship is offered to students as part of a learning experience in foreign countries. These internships usually range from six weeks to 18 months.

“The visiting students will ascertain the employability of students to generate employment,” said Mukherjee.

For the guests, the experience till date has been great. “The study has been enriching and exciting. We have learnt a lot of new things in Dhanbad,” said Sany Cugny who has come from Switzerland.