The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Education is about honing `skills of problem-solving'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 25, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Education is about honing `skills of problem-solving'

Meera Srinivasan

Ann Puntis. — Photo: S. S. Kumar

CHENNAI : Education is about building critical thinking and problem-solving skills, says Ann Puntis, chief executive, Cambridge International Examinations (CIE).

Ms. Puntis, who was recently in the city, spoke to The Hindu on the CIE syllabus followed by about 175 schools in India, emerging trends in school education and India's performance in comparison to Cambridge International Schools in other countries.

University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) is the world's largest provider of international qualifications for students in the age group 14 - 16 years. CIE is a voluntary organisation, which is part of the University of Cambridge.

"Indian students are very strong performers. They are also very energetic in terms of number of subjects they do," says Ms. Puntis, who has worked in developing assessments for the CIE.

A senior academician with several years' experience in teaching, administration and policy-making in national education, she says, "The Cambridge syllabus requires students to master concepts rather than memorise information."

Besides face-to-face, online and interactive training programmes, the CIE also offers scope for teachers to constantly upgrade themselves through formal in-service training programmes such as the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) certificate courses.

Interestingly, India has the maximum number of participants enrolled for the CPD course.

The CIE, she says, is close to the CBSE and ICSE syllabi followed in India. Some schools following the CIE in India are five star schools and others, modest, in terms of resources. "But their commitment to quality education is noteworthy."

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