‘IB programme getting popular among Pakistani students’

CP programme head says IB unique scheme to meet needs of students

ISLAMABAD:

Head of the Career-related Programme (CP) of International Baccalaureate in Pakistan, Dr Leeanne Wootten, has said that the IB programme is gaining popularity in Pakistan as well as around the world because Pakistani students, who want to enter universities abroad, get more career benefits by enrolling in this programme.

“The CP is a framework for international education that embodies the values of the IB as a unique programme and meets the needs of students. This programme leads to higher education, apprenticeships or employment,” Dr Wootten said while talking to The Express Tribune in a special interview.

The CP programme head said: “The IB is an academic programme regarded as an alternative to the Cambridge level and is also appropriate for postgraduate studies. The IB has different programmes for primary, secondary and postgraduate students.”

Dr Wootten, who is leading IB Pakistan’s first career-related programme termed CP, informed that it starts with the Primary Years Programme (PYP) that teaches arts, math, social studies, language, education and science.

“The Middle Years Programme (MYP) and exhibition project are for grades six and up. It is a five-year programme that combines geography, history, mathematics, and design in addition to the arts, sciences, language learning, and literature in other languages, individuals and society. Meanwhile, in a design course, students essentially learn how to develop something that requires a computer algorithm,” she explained.

Furthermore, Dr Wootten briefed about CP which is designed for students aged 16-19. “The CP is a framework of international education that incorporates the values of the IB into a unique programme addressing the needs of students engaged in career-related education.

The programme leads to higher education, apprenticeships or employment.”

She was of the opinion that all of these programmes are well-known internationally. Regardless of whether their students are Pakistanis or not, all of these institutions are de-facto international schools.

Currently, this curriculum is in the trial phase in Pakistan, where counsellors are engaging with parents and discussing the educational preferences of their children and their professional inclinations.

Responding to a question about the response of schools in accepting the IB academic programme, Dr Wootten said that it will take a few years since they just got the authorisation. “Students earlier had the choice of either doing O/A levels or opting for the matric intermediate system. However, now they will be able to opt for IB and either do CP or Diploma Programme (DP).”

Talking further regarding the acceptance of the IB programme, she said, “Initially, it took a long time to garner acceptance for the Cambridge system to be accepted in this region, but eventually it became widely popular in India and Pakistan. Now it’s the IB that is gaining popularity.”

Commenting on the international trend of academic programmes, Dr Wootten said, “Cambridge system is much cheaper than the IB, it’s a programme where students have to memorise and take an exam. In education, memory is the lowest form of learning, where you memorise only to take an exam.”

“But in the case of IB, it’s concepts, not memories. Universities want students that know how to write, debate, take part in MUN (Model United Nations), be in contests, volunteer for the poor etc. For example, if two students apply for a university in Canada, they will see that A-levels students have only two courses and no volunteering, no extended essay etc. When they compare him with a DP student who has taken six courses, theory of knowledge, languages, extended essay, and volunteering. They will always choose IB.”

With a career-related programme, students can gain both professional and academic experience, something not covered completely in A-levels.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2023.