Teaching Professionals' Olympiad – A Flagship Initiative by CENTA

Imparting of quality education is of key importance in the present day. In order to keep up the standards of the education being imparted in India, the Oxford University Press (OUP), which is the world's largest university press, has partnered with Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA). Both these organizations together conduct the Teaching Professionals' Olympiad every year. Basically this Olympiad is a flagship initiative of CENTA and presently it is the 4th edition of this Olympiad that has been conducted. The format of the test paper was multiple choices.

The test has been conducted on December 8, 2018 across 46 cities in India. The Olympiad is available in 21 subject tracks (up from 14 last year) across Primary, Middle, Secondary and Senior Secondary school levels. This time, the Primary track (mix of Language, Maths and EVS) is also available in six language mediums - Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu along with English. The basic motive of this initiative is to raise the standards of teaching in India and to test that where exactly the teachers’ stand and are they capable enough for bearing the responsibility of imparting quality education in schools. Upon successful completion of the test by the teachers, evaluation is done and thereafter they receive a “Confidential Personalized Report” which clarifies their own standing among their fellow colleagues. This fills a lot of confidence in them and motivates them to compete with their ownself. Taking up this assessment can prove beneficial for anyone interested in teaching, including school teachers, principals, supplemental/tuition teachers, B.Ed students and professional fellows in Education. Teachers from diverse schools are readily participating in this Olympiad such as government, private and low-income/affordable private schools) and school boards (ICSE, IB, CBSE, State boards, etc.). The Oxford University Press (OUP) India will sponsor the top two winners of TPO 2018 English tracks (Middle School and Secondary/Senior Secondary) to attend a two-week Oxford English Language Teachers' Academy Masterclass at the University of Oxford, UK. Those who will secure the 2nd and 3rd rank holders will be sponsored for the Oxford Teachers' Academy Online training programme in partnership with the University of Oxford. On the other hand, rank holders 4th to 7th of the Middle School English track and rank holders 3rd to 5th of Secondary and Senior Secondary English tracks will receive sponsorship for OUP's Online Teacher Training programme. That’s not all, winners shall receive many more exciting and relevant prizes such as 100+ cash awards (`1 lakh to `5000), sponsorship to world's biggest education conference in Dubai, profiling in The Hindu group of publications, co-authoring the 2nd edition of 'Chalk and Challenges', a book on teaching perspectives, and smartphones for toppers of the primary regional language tracks.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/education-today/news/story/teaching-professionals-olympiad-to-be-held-in-46-cities-1402287-2018-12-04