Andhra Govt Signs MoU with International Baccalaureate

Amaravati: Government has signed an MoU with the American educational agency International Baccalaureate (IB) in the presence of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at Secretariat here on Wednesday. 

The MoU was signed by the IB Chief Development officer Matt Costello and the Principal Secretary of the Education Department Praveen Prakash. 

Speaking on the occasion,  the Chief Minister said that the MoU with the IB, which specializes in the modern examination systems, will help introduce innovative questioning and answering methods that will be closer to practical life.

The IB syllabus, which is in vogue in the American schools, would be accessible to students, he said, adding that it would be introduced in Government schools at the foundation level initially and expand to the higher classes gradually. 

He said it is a historic event as our students would get good opportunities in global universities and improve their worldly knowledge.  

We have already introduced the TOEFL training at primary, secondary and higher levels and when the students reach classes 8 and 9, they would attain good communication and writing skills, he said. 

The main objective in signing the MoU is to make our students gain knowledge of emerging and future technologies and make them competitive on par with IB students of other countries and it is a challenge for the Government and appeals to IB to cooperate in achieving the goal.   

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He told the IB officials that the Government has been implementing several measures for improving the standards of Government school students and strengthening the school education system through digitalization of classrooms, upgrading the school infrastructure, distribution of tabs, introduction of bilingual textbooks, TOEFL training to school students and introduction of  English Medium in schools. He expressed gratitude to the IB for signing the MoU. 

The signing-in was virtually witnessed by IB officials from the US, UK and Switzerland.  

Education Minister B Satyanarayana, Chief Secretary Dr KS Jawahar Reddy, Education Department Principal Secretary Praveen Prakash, Commissioners S Suresh Kumar (School Education) and K Bhaskar (School Infrastructure) , IB Development and Research Manager (South Asia) Mahesh Balakrishnan, Chief Business Development Officer Matt Costello and Chief Education Officer Dr.Anton Beguin  were among those present.