IB teaching reviewed

Bi-annual meet organised in City

LAHORE: A bi-annual meeting between International Baccalaureate (IB) school representatives of 30 private and public schools, members of the Association of IB World Schools in Pakistan (IBPAK) from 5 cities was organised on Friday.

Global trends in education and developments in the sector were looked into on the occasion. The International School Karachi’s founding principal Taimur Mirza chaired the meeting. Kevin House, the head of School Services, and Gregory Biggs of the IB Asia-Pacific office in Singapore updated those present regarding global developments in the sector. The IB governance seminar was concurrently led by IB educators Richard Tangye and John Sperandio. Present on the occasions were directors, board members and principals of Faisalabad’s Angel International College, the Beaconhouse School System, The City School, Islamabad’s Global System of Integrated Systems, Islamabad’s Headstart School, Karachi’s Ilmesters Academy, International School of Islamabad, Lahore Grammar School Defence, Lahore Grammar School International, Lahore Grammar School Islamabad, Lahore’s Learning Alliance, Islamabad’s NJ’s House, Islamabad’s Roots International Schools, Islamabad’s Roots Millennium Schools, Lahore’s  Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust Higher Secondary School, Saudi School Islamabad, Saudi School Karachi, Islamabad’s Shaikh Zayed International Academy, Lahore’s SICAS, Karachi’s The International School, Karachi’s The Learning Tree, Islamabad’s TLC Daycare Preschool Activity Club and Lahore’s Beaconhouse TNS.

Those present were informed that the British system of education had become popular in Pakistan in the late 1970s. They were told that IB had been gaining a foothold across the nation. Those present were informed that this was indicative of the global shift towards the IB model of education. They were told that there were 44,571 IB schools operating across 150 states. Of these, they were told, 2,742 schools were located in select states across the Americas, 994 in Africa, Europe and the Middle East while 704 were situated in the Asia-Pacific region.

Those present were informed that the non-political and autonomous nature of the organisation allowed it to formulate innovative educational programmes.

They said the chief focus of the philosophy behind the IB system, its curriculum and teaching was to make minds think, engage with others and reflect on  knowledge obtained rather than just reproduce it.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2016.