If we have to change the education system it’s important to get into it says Dr. Munmun Nath, Senior School Principal, Calcutta International School.
She loves to teach. Teaching is her passion and teaching is her hobby. Teaching comes naturally to her. Her birthday is on 5th September, ‘The Teachers’ Day!’ As a child, on her birthday when she would distribute sweets to teachers her Principal would always tell her “You are born on his day be like him”. She feels sad that those days at her time, meritorious students did not like to opt a career in education. She talks about her twenty eight years of journey as a teacher, IB curriculum and about today’s education in India. “There cannot be a joy greater than shaping the young minds and designing their future. It keeps you young forever.”
“It is five years that I am associated with this school. It has been a wonderful five years. The school is a very happy place both for teachers and students. I had joined as a teacher in this school and soon was appointed the Head of the Department Science. Within three years of me joining the school I was appointed the Principal Senior School. The last two years have been very challenging and I have enjoyed every moment of this leadership experience. I have been working on my personal development, professional development and development of the school. I have been able to bring in some valuable changes which resulted in improvement in academics.
We are now the best International School in West Bengal as per Education World and this year we also received the Best School Award in India – The Jury’s choice by Education Today. Well the journey has just begun ….”
Talking about the Goals of CIS she says,we as an IB world school want to spread awareness about IB Philosophy of Education in the city. We offer only the IB diploma curriculum along with Cambridge curriculum. Our present strength of IBDP class is 34. The goal is to have a strength of 40 in two years. All our teachers are trained but the goal is, in two years we make all teachers proficient in taking an IB class. We have the necessary infrastructure and the policies are working document in school. Our results were good with highest and second highest in Eastern India with 43 and 41 points. Our average is higher than global average. In Ten years Calcutta International School will be among the top IB schools of the country in academics and teaching and learning process.
When asked how well is the IB certification accepted in India and globally, she explains in detail – there is a growing interest in the IB curriculum in India. IB certification is accepted by all universities. The problem is the board examination of IB happens in May and the results come out in August by then admissions in Indian colleges are completed and many colleges do not accept the predicted grade given by the schools so students have to take a gap year if they have to study in India. Acceptability of predicted grade is increasing in India but forum of IB schools will have to convince the universities further for wider acceptance of predicted grades.
Globally IB is well accepted and even preferred by some universities it is considered to be a rigorous curriculum.Ms Munmun’s thoughts on today’s education in India shows that education system in India needs a revolution. Institutes focus on examinations and prepare students only for examinations. It is sad but most of the schools are not preparing the children for life and work. She strongly feels that today we need to list the students for the skills they acquire and not the content they learn. We have to help the students in realizing their potentials and nurture the individuality in a child.
For more info visit: http://www.calcuttais.edu.in/
Dr Munmun Nath
Principal-Senior School
Calcutta International School
724 Anandapur 700 107 Phone: 9836652141