The Australian program plans to debut in the Indian education landscape, with projections aiming to introduce the program to ten schools by the next school year, according to Syed Sultan Ahmed, president of TAISI and founder and chief learner of LXL Ideas . The announcement was made at the Association of International Schools of India (TAISI) conference.

“We plan to start by working with 10 schools and make sure all of our systems and processes are in place before expanding that network,” he said.

Currently, the program has not been rolled out to any Indian schools, confirmed Angelique Smith, associate director, international education strategy, external relations at SCSA, Department of Education, Western Australia. However, the program was tested in a school in Punjab to assess what works and what doesn’t in India, she added.

The Australian curriculum, structured in a K-12 format, includes English, mathematics, science, humanities, social sciences, health and physical education, languages, technology and the arts. The assessment is divided into 50 percent school-based assessment and 50 percent external examination. “This approach ideally ensures that students’ performance on school assessments is consistent with their results on external exams. To do this, we work closely with teachers to help them understand the standards, create appropriate assessments, and allow for differentiation to accommodate a range of student abilities. Our goal is not to prepare students just for exams,” Smith explained.

Further, commenting on the collaboration, Hillary McGeachy, Consul General of Australia in Bangalore, said: “India continues to be the second largest source of international students to Australia, with over 1,22,000 students enrolled from January to September 2023, and with this partnership, we see a tremendous opportunity ahead.