Calcutta teachers set to take classes in Sikkim The Garden High teachers will hold classes for two weeks in May at the IGCSE and AS and A levels

The Taktse International School in Gangtok Sourced by the Correspondent

Jhinuk Mazumdar, TT, 30 March 2019, Calcutta: A group of teachers from Calcutta will climb up the hills in Sikkim this summer not for a vacation but to teach students of a school.

Four teachers of Garden High International School are scheduled to visit Taktse International School in Gangtok in May as part of a collaboration between the two institutes, which follow the same international curriculum.

“The Gangtok school wants our teachers to hold classes. There will be an interaction among the teachers of the two schools and an exchange of best practices between the institutes,” Anuradha Das, director of Garden High International School, said.

The engagement in May will start with senior teachers of Garden High, along with the school director, visiting Gangtok to teach the science subjects that follow the Cambridge Assessment International Examination.

They will train the teachers and revisit certain aspects of curriculum design and delivery.

The Garden High teachers will hold classes for two weeks in May at the IGCSE (Classes IX and X) and AS and A levels (XI and XII).

Taktse International was conceived in 2004 but it is connected to some private schools in the US. “Most of the teachers have been trained in private schools in Boston and a lot of them have had short stints in training at the Harvard Graduate School of Education,” Aman Singh, adviser to Taktse International School, said.

“The school’s outlook is international in the way teachers have been trained to bring up students but they struggle with mastering the art of ensuring their students do well in the board exams.... The first real outcome expected from this partnership is Garden High teachers helping Taktse teachers and students in achieving academic excellence of a higher level.”

Das and Nandini Mukherjee, the dean of students at Garden High, have visited the Sikkim school in the winter of 2017. Officials of both schools have been discussing over Skype how to go about the partnership.

“When we talk about international collaboration we should not only look outside our borders but look within because there is scope to learn from ourselves as well,” Das said.

Singh spoke of a student exchange towards the end of the year.