PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE COURSE IN THE STATE OF KERALA 

The inaugural session of the introductory Portuguese language course took place on April 15th in the city of Ernakulam, the second largest city in the Indian state of Kerala and its industrial and commercial capital and adjoining the port of Cochim where the Portuguese established their first city on Asian soil in the early 16th century. The course was organised by the Indo-Portuguese Cultural Institute, a Kerala based cultural organisation dedicated to the promotion of Indo-Portuguese culture.

The month long course receives financial and logistical backing from the Fundação Oriente and educational support from the Camões Institute / Portuguese Language Centre of Goa.

The program was supervised by Professor Davees, from the Kerala City College of Trichur, who studied at the University of Coimbra on a Fundação Oriente scholarship, in conjunction with Professor Maria do Céu Barreto, of the University of Goa.

A total of twenty students were enrolled, around half of whom were adults, many university professors interested in studying the Portuguese heritage that has a strong presence in Kerala.