CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation organised an overseas excursion trip for seven students studying in its schools.

The students — M Parthiban (10), K Nishanth (9), K Ilakkiya (9), A
Pushparaj (8), S Haripriya (10), V Priyanka (9) and S Sivagami (9) —
visited Germany for a seven-day trip between July 3 and 10.

On Thursday, the students called on municipal administration minister S
P Velumani and health minister C Vijayabaskar at the state secretariat.

The German tour was sponsored in part under the Wings to Fly
initiative of the Rotary Club of Madras East and the Goethe Institut in
Nungambakkam.

This is the second time the local body has organised an overseas trip
for the benefit of its students. Last year, a batch of seven students
visited Malaysia.

“The students who went on the trip were the shortlisted finalists in
an oratorical competition conducted by the Rotary Club and the Goethe
Institut,” said an official.

The topic for the competition was “Let’s embrace our rivers” which was to be presented in the format of story-telling.

During the tour, the students visited the Berlin and Hamburg cities.

The cleanup project on the Elbe river, which runs through Hamburg, was
what the students found most interesting as they said that similar
technique could be used to clean the Cooum and the Adyar rivers in
Chennai.