AP govt signs deal with International Baccalaureate

AMARAVATI: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was exchanged between the Andhra Pradesh Government and the American educational agency International Baccalaureate (IB) at Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's chamber in the Secretariat at Velagapudi on Wednesday.

As per the MoU, IB syllabus would be introduced in all Government Schools across the State. The MoU was signed by IB chief business development officer Matt Costello and Principal Secretary (Education) Praveen Prakash in the presence of the Chief Minister.

Jagan said that the State Government was committed to increasing the standards in education and making students globally ready. "Introduction of the IB syllabus for students is a big challenge that too in Government school is an herculean task. However, the State Government is aspiring to make students attain number one positions in their respective fields and become perfect global leaders," YS Jagan said.

Informing the initiatives being taken by the Government, the Chief Minister said that several reforms were brought to strengthen the school education in Andhra Pradesh. Be it digitisation of classrooms, introduction of English medium education in all schools and bilingual textbooks, incentives to mothers for sending their children to schools or TOEFL training for students, all the initiatives reduced the drop-out rate and Government schools had reached a stage wherein corporate schools were trying to compete with them, he said.

IB representatives from Singapore, Washington DC, Geneva and the United Kingdom, IB director general Olli-Pekka Heinonen and chief business development officer Matt Costello were present along with the Chief Minister on the occasion.