VIJAYAWADA: The Municipal Development and Urban Development Department on Thursday entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with University of Cambridge in the presence of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
As a part of the pact, the university will provide training to teachers and students of municipal schools to improve their proficiency in the English language.
The MoU is a part of the transformation of municipal schools (TOMS) initiative taken up by the MAUD department.
Career guidance centres will be set up to up-skill the students. In all, 14 career guidance centres, one each in every district headquarter and one more in Pulivendula model constituency will be set up, according to a government order issued in the last week of December.
As part of the programme, 12,378 teachers working in municipal schools will be given training for English.
A students’ guidance and training centre with integrated international labs, digital curriculum, international Olympiad, and IELTS training are also included in the TOMS initiative. The MoU was signed by Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration GSRKR Vijay Kumar on behalf of the state government.
TK Arunachalam, regional director of South Asia of Cambridge Assessment International Education represented the University of Cambridge.
Already, 8,000 teachers have completed the 30-day training and passed the Cambridge Assessment English test. The remaining, over four thousand, are currently receiving training. Three studios will be set up in Visakhapatnam, Kurnool and Vijayawada.
The study material for students will be prepared by the teachers and provided through the studios. Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, chief secretary Aditya Nath Das and MAUD secretary Y Srilakshmi were also present.
Deal part of schools’ transformation initiative
The MoU is a part of the transformation of municipal schools (TOMS) initiative taken up by the Municipal Development and Urban Development department. The study material for students will be prepared by school teachers and provided through the studios to be established in Vizag, Kurnool and Vijayawada.