A quiet excitement wafts out of a classroom at the Government Nursing College in Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh. The students have their eyes glued firmly on the face of their teacher as she prepares a question. “Tell me what you’ve learnt so far in Deutsch (German).”

A symphony of voices emerges from the other side. With their eyes rolling in uncertainty and lips breaking into shy smiles, the students, many from poor families in the State’s hinterland, shape simple German sentences with visible effort. Laughter occasionally ripples through the room, as they share relief, pride and the joy of learning something profoundly new.

The young trainees are nursing graduates drawn from districts across Andhra Pradesh, learning German under the International Skilling programme rolled out by the State government, through A.P. State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) and its subsidiary, the Overseas Manpower Company Andhra Pradesh (OMCAP).

“It’s not easy,” admits G. Venkata Lakshmi, a native of Timmapuram village in Bheemunipatnam mandal in Visakhapatnam district. “But every new word feels like a step closer to my goal. I never thought I’d be speaking German,” says the 32-year-old, who packed her bags and headed to the nursing college in Guntur to attend German classes after working as a nurse at a private hospital in Visakhapatnam for a year.

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