E-Paper
Now, small-town schools vie for international level education
Globalisation of education seems to have taken Indian hinterlands in its grip. Applications for IGCSE affiliation from Indian hinterland is up by 30 per cent, reports Serena Menon.
Globalisation of education seems to have taken Indian hinterlands in its grip.
Large number of schools across tier II and tier III cities in the country are contacting International General Certificate for Secondary Education (IGCSE) level for affiliation and many are also getting it.
“We have been contacted by many schools in tier II and tier III cities, like Nashik, Aurangabad and Kanchanjanga, who have qualified to teach our syllabus, when we even have no means of advertising in these places,” said Ian Chambers, regional manager of the Cambridge International Examination (CIE) on Tuesday.
Nashik, Pune, Nagpur, Amravati and Solapur are the cities in Maharashtra that following the CIE board. “India has a growing demand for world education. Its students have a lot of potential,” said Chambers, who was in the city to congratulate the world toppers in Mathematics and Business Studies at the IGCSE level.
He felt that local flavour was necessary in the academic curriculum for a student’s growth, which is why the CIE obliged to the state government’s orders to add Marathi to their curriculum few months ago.
“But the core syllabus of the board must remain the same around the world,” he added. “We encourage teachers to explain concepts with local examples. While teaching geography in Mumbai, the teacher will give examples of the coast.”
The CIE has witnessed 25 to 30 per cent increase in the number of schools applying for affiliation from India. “Apart from the parents demanding better standards education, the word of mouth publicity has worked,” he said.
Chambers felt that the need of the hour was to reduce the stress on students by shifting the focus from memorising to application education.
“The evaluation scheme needs to complement the grading system. Examinations should have application-based questions to test a students’ intelligence and understanding of a subject. A lot needs to change before moving to a graded system of evaluation,” he said.
