THE SANSKAAR VALLEY SCHOOL, ranked among India’s Top 50 (#32) day-cum-boarding schools (EW India School Rankings 2013), is the 10,000th school worldwide to offer Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) qualifications. The Bhopal-based school was registered as a CIE-affiliate institution on January 10. 

In 2013, 27 schools across India registered with CIE bringing the total number of the UK-based examination board’s affiliate schools in India to 337. “We are delighted that our community of schools in India and around the world continues to grow. On behalf of Cambridge, I extend a warm welcome to all new schools which have joined Cambridge this year. We look forward to working with you in providing a world class education for your learners, and preparing them well for their next steps in education and life beyond,” said Michael O’Sullivan, chief executive of CIE speaking on the occasion.

TEC14 set to go

THE FOURTH ANNUAL Teacher Educator Conference 2014 (TEC14) of the British Council and the English and Foreign Languages University (EFL-U), Hyderabad is scheduled to be convened in Hyderabad between February 21-23. This year’s conference on the theme ‘Innovation in English language teacher education’, is expected to draw over 1,200 delegates from 25 countries.

“India has a pressing need for lakhs of trained teachers, many of whom will teach English as a subject and/or in English-medium schools. Innovation in teacher education is essential if the government, teacher training institutes and schools are to provide teachers with the high quality pre-service and in-service training they need to help students achieve their potential,” says Rustom Mody, senior teacher trainer of the British Council English Partnership (Western India).

According to Mody, TEC14 will feature over 120 presentations, panel discussions, and interactive workshops conducted by leading Indian and international academics.

MCC Lord’s Club, India

ANGLO INDIAN GROUP — exclusive licence holder of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Lord’s brands in India — has launched the MCC Lord’s Club, India, with a pre-season cricket training programme at The Doon School (TDS), Dehradun. This five-day programme will be attended by approximately 80 boys from TDS and local children invited by the school under its outreach programme.

Comments Simon Reid, founder-chairman of the Anglo Indian Group: “It’s a great privilege to be launching the MCC Lord’s Club, India at TDS and we hope this is the start of a long-term partnership with The Doon School to bring the cricket skills, ethos and values of MCC and Lord’s to its pupils, and to boys of the wider local community.”

Founded in 1787, the Marylebone Cricket Club is the oldest and most active cricket club in the world and plays more than 500 matches annually. MCC also owns the Lord’s cricket ground in London.

GLIM’s decadal anniversary

THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY celebrations of the Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai (GLIM, estb. 2004) were flagged off on January 15 by Dr. Ram Charan, renowned US-based business management guru and author of best-seller book Execution (2002).

On the occasion, the B-school hosted a seminar for corporate professionals under its Global Thought Leader Series during which Lakshmi Narayanan, vice chairman of Cognizant Ltd, delivered the keynote address and Dr. Charan conducted an interactive workshop on the theme ‘Leadership in turbulent times’. The seminar was attended by over 180 senior business management executives.

J.L. Kellogg, distinguished professor of accounting and information management at Northwestern University, USA, Dr. Bala V. Balachandran, founder and dean of GLIM, welcomed Dr. Charan and invitees. “I truly believe in the dictum ‘Be distinct or be extinct’. If you don’t have the courage to think differently, you will not sustain the competition and will soon perish,” said Balachandran.

Congratulating GLIM on the institute’s tenth anniversary, Dr. Charan said it has made a great contribution to society. “I am very pleased to be part of these celebrations and to have met some great young minds. I congratulate Bala and his team for GLIM’s success,” he added.

Brown-LVI bonhomie

A team of distinguished academics from Brown University — the well-known top-ranked Ivy League American varsity — visited Lotus Valley International School (LVI), Gurgaon, on January 17, the third visit of Brown University academics to LVI since 2011. The Brown team comprised Kenneth K. Wong, chair of the education department and director of the urban education policy programme; Vijay K. Chitnis, director of international initiatives in education; Prof. Douglas Brown, director of writing support programmes and adjunct lecturer, department of English, and Prof. Laura Snyder, director of graduate study, and English education.

In an address to LVI teachers and students, Wong said Brown University values its association with the school, and promised student and teacher exchange programmes to help LVI improve teaching-learning standards and pedagogies. Prof. Snyder apprised students and teachers about Brown’s writing support programmes which enable learners to send their creative writing for evaluation by the university’s English language faculty.