To ensure that best curriculum can be designed for the project “Mission Schools of Excellence”, the education department of Gujarat government on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Cambridge University, said an official release from the state government.
The Memorandum of Understanding between Cambridge Partnership for Education, part of the University of Cambridge and the Government of Gujarat, will enable collaboration on the development of curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning resources, and teacher training.
“Through a bilingual medium and learning by doing, this curriculum will build English and 21st century skills in all students, which will be assessed through international standards. To be implemented in residential schools of excellence from the academic session 2022, while classes from 6-8 will be bilingual, Class 9 onwards will be English medium,” Secretary Education Vinod Rao told The Indian Express.
The MoU signed between University of Cambridge and Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) states the collaboration is for “development of excellence curriculum for learners as part of the residential schools of excellence under the Mission Schools of Excellence, implementation of international assessment standards, development of resources for teaching and learning, preparation and delivery of teacher development, advice on admissions testing for schools of excellence, and explore possibilities of consultancy support and guidance by Cambridge to GSHSEB”.
Following the signing of MoU, the release stated, Education Minister Jitu Vaghani expressed confidence that it will provide an opportunity to Gujarat students to get world class education.
Quoting Vaghani, the release also stated that this was the first of its kind MoU signed in the country.
“The objective of signing this MoU is to design curriculum for students of classes 6-12 (in government schools) as per the international standards. In future, this partnership with Cambridge will help improve the education level of Gujarat students.”
Vaghani also referred to the MoU while addressing a press conference to apprise media about the decisions taken in the weekly state Cabinet meeting. He said that the MoU has been signed to ensure that children from weaker sections of the society (studying in government schools) get international standard education and they feel that the government is standing by them.