The newly formed Delhi Board of School Education on Wednesday signed an agreement with the International Baccalaureate (IB) to adopt global practices in the field of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment at 30 schools of Delhi government during the 2021-22 session.
The Delhi government said that students studying at 10 Sarvodaya schools (Classes Nursery-8) and 20 Schools of Specialised Excellence, SoSE (Classes 9-12) that are affiliated to the DBSE will now be able to access the highest international standards of education.
Highest standards
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after announcing the tie-up, said that people used to undermine the Delhi government’s vision for education in the Capital. They thought that the DBSE was started just for the sake of it but through this collaboration, pedagogy of the highest standards will be inculcated in the curriculum of the DBSE schools in collaboration with the IB.
“The biggest schools of the world and the country where the richest of rich children go to study dream of getting an affiliation of the IB, as their pedagogy is of the highest international standards. Across the world, the IB has collaborated with about 5,500 schools in 159 countries. They have collaborated with the governments of America, Canada, Spain, Japan and South Korea among other developed countries,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
He said that in the last six years, the Delhi government has invested very heavily, both in terms of commitment and financial resources, that has led to a complete transformation of education in government schools. “We were standing at a juncture where we had to improve what is being taught, how it is being taught and we had to prepare our children for the international standards. When it succeeds, it will be a great model for the rest of our country and show that we can provide the best quality of education to the most underprivileged of the people,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Through the agreement, the IB will become a knowledge partner with a government board. This will translate into experts from foreign countries coming here to train the schools under the DBSE and improve their quality to international standards, the government said. Under the guidance of the IB, schools will be inspected, verified, and certified and they will tell what the school lacks and how it can be improved, the government said paving the way for more schools to get affiliated to the DBSE.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, also DBSE president, said that the government’s aim was to ensure that students from Delhi become global leaders.
Development workshops
Stefanie Leong, Head of Development and Recognition, Asia-Pacific, IB, who is based in Singapore said that the partnership entails that IB development workshops provide opportunities to engage in rich learning experiences for the school leaders and educators, and serve as a tool to help schools meet professional requirements of the highest quality. “IB education is designed to develop knowledgeable and caring young people who are dedicated to creating a better world,” she said.
More than 400 teachers in Sarvodaya schools and 250 teachers in SoSEs will be part of the professional development workshops by IB which and about 15,000 students studying in these schools will benefit from the collaboration with IB.
