Eight students from Sri Lankan schools together with a Sri Lankan German teacher have been nominated by Goethe Institut Sri Lanka to participate in a three-week residential children’s camp from August 9 to 31 in the district of Nordfriesland in Schleswig Holstein, Germany, North of Hamburg.

The Goethe Institut promotes the knowledge of the German language outside Germany and fosters international cultural cooperation.

"We also convey a comprehensive picture of Germany by providing information on Germany’s cultural, social and political life," a news release by the Institut said.

The children’s camp is part of an initiative on the theme "Schools: Partners for the future" with a goal of building a worldwide network of at least 1,000 partner schools.

"Through this initiative and in particular through the German classes of excellence in these schools young people’s interest in and enthusiasm for modern day Germany and German society will be awakened," the news release said.

The Goethe Institut said that this initiative will be welcomed here at both political as well as education levels adding that the German Cultural Centre in Colombo will identify approximately five schools and promote them for an election into the "Partner for the Future" schools pool.

The children’s camp in which the Lankan students will participate is supported by the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin in association with the Language Section of the Goethe Institut with headquarters in Munich and some other organizations.

The Goethe Institut Sri Lanka offers the entire programme, travel (air tickets, on both ways to the destination in Hamburg), accommodation, daily allowances and health insurance free of costs to all the Sri Lankan students elected for this programme, the release said.

"It is not only that we want to give children access to the German language and education but also to awaken an interest in an understanding for each other. Openness to cultural diversity and tolerance towards other people’s distinctiveness are expected to be promoted through this programme," the release said.