GEMS Education&Educational Initiatives in major push to improve assessment patterns in Indian schools

Sridhar Rajagopalan, Managing
Director, Educational Initiatives
addressing the gathering.

Summit explores ways of further enhancing quality of education at Indian curriculum schools

Dubai, UAE, February 26th, 2011: Educationalists from the CBSE Indian schools in the GCC and India met today at a special seminar specifically aimed at exploring changes in assessment patterns in Indian schools.

This full day seminar at the Sheraton Dubai Creek Hotel and Towers provided a platform for sharing of views, insights and experiential learning by practising educators and researchers from the UAE as well as the GCC countries and India.

The first-of-its-kind summit, hosted by GEMS Education, a global education provider for K – 12 in different curricula, and Educational Initiatives (EI), an internationally renowned company in the field of student assessment methods, discussed ways of improving the teaching and learning standards through assessment as well as fine-tuning current assessment methods.

Ralph Tabberer, COO GEMS Education, delivered the key note address that set the tone for the summit. The summit saw Sridhar Rajagopalan, Managing Director, Educational Initiatives, Sudhir Ghodke, Director, Educational Initiatives, Farooq Wasil, Director, Asian Schools GEMS Education, George Mathew, Principal, Our Own English High School (Abu Dhabi), Neville Noronha, Principal, Our Own English High School (Al Warqa’a, Dubai), Nooraine Fazal, CEO, Inventure Academy (Bangalore), Dr Madhulika Sen, Principal, Tagore International School (New Delhi) speaking on various areas linked to assessments. Participants included Principals, Vice Principals and the Academic Supervisors from across the GCC.

Sridhar Rajagopalan, M D, EI
addressing the gathering

Mr Sridhar Rajagopalan said, ‘The Mckinsey report has clearly indicated that teachers are the most important resource in school improvement efforts. The Assessment Summit jointly organised by EI and GEMS is a great opportunity for teachers, school leaders, researchers and educational specialists to come together to share best practices related to assessment and specifically CCE. EI and GEMS share the same philosophy of helping children learn with understanding and such interactive and activity oriented seminars will provide the platform for teacher empowerment and improvement in the region.”

The Plenary sessions witnessed Principals sharing notes on the challenges as well as success in the implementation of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) - as envisaged by the CBSE. The summit focussed on actionables and translating different perspectives into practice with a roadmap for the HOW of implementing assessment.

Dr Wasil, Director GEMS Education said, "Assessments carried out with the right spirit and approach is a sure shot path to empowerment and school leadership has to be ever on the learning curve to ensure this."

About Educational Initiatives

Educational Initiatives has over 15 years of expertise in education, with a deep understanding of child psychology and efficient methods of teaching, based on detailed research and formidable database of student learning through ASSET (Assessment of Scholastic Skills through Educational Testing)
Through its interactive tools such as Mindspark (digital self-learning program), ASSET, Detailed Assessment, CCE Certificate Course, Teacher Evaluation Program, Teacher Sheets and more, Educational Initiatives assists thousands of teachers in improving their students' achievements.

EI is also working with leading organizations such as the World Bank, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Google, the Azim Premji Foundation, Duke University, USA and is conducting large-scale assessment projects with various state governments. EI has been recently recognized as an official Supplement Educational Service provider in Texas, USA.

About GEMS Education

GEMS is the largest private kindergarten to grade 12 education operator in the world. It has a global network of world class international schools which provide high quality holistic education to more than 100,000 students from 125 countries. It employs over 9,000 education professionals, specialists and staff. GEMS has a world class leadership team that combines business and education expertise from around the globe.

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