– Reshma Ravishanker 

Three schools from Karnataka have been onboarded for the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE), a senior secondary curriculum from the Government of Western Australia. Classes are set to commence starting this academic year.

Two schools from Bengaluru – DPS North and DPS East and Shaheen International School in Bidar are set to offer the curriculum to students from this year. The board anticipates an enrollment of around 500 students from the three schools for kindergarten. Training aligned with the WACE curriculum is underway for teachers in these schools.

The WACE programme is administered by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA), a statutory body of the Government of Western Australia. With over 37 years of delivery across 16+ countries, including Singapore, China, Japan, and Malaysia, WACE is known for its future-ready curriculum that emphasises academic depth, skills development, and global university pathways.

Schools that adhere to the norms set by central boards in India and have the prescribed campus and infrastructure requisites can be considered for affiliation by the international board.

The board will offer teachers around 150 hours of teacher training programmes in person and also offer continued support from Government of Australia officials who will have staff interactions once every quarter post commencement of classes.

Offering insights into the curriculum’s unique nature, Angelique Smith, principal consultant, School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA), Government of Western Australia said, “Right to Education for all children is of great importance for us. We aim to create a space where children’s voice is heard. Via our participation in schools here, we are looking at offering leadership exchange programmes and can facilitate the interaction of schools in India with the schools in Australia for exchange of knowledge.”

No detention policy

Smith said that the board offers age-appropriate learning and hence will cater to students in person in individual classes if they fall behind. There will be no detention of students in any grade. 

Affordability

Syed Sultan Ahmed, Chairman of TAISI, and Advisor to WACE India on International Curriculum Integration said that enrolling for the curriculum will cost students atleast 70% lesser than an average IB school’s fee. “We are looking at helping the aspirational middle class who also want to get access to international standards of education but at an affordable cost. Here, quality education will be offered at a much less cost than IB or Cambridge education.”

Assessments

The board focuses on continued assessments using various tools such as student participation or projects. Students will not have any exams from kindergarten upto grade 10. “We understand that a lot of Indian students wish to take different paths post grade 10. We are working towards designing an examination at this level. The only other board exam will take place at Grade 12 for a student which will also be partially school performance and partially exam-based. A student will be given rankings and not percentage at the end of the exam,” explained Smith. Students will be awarded a certificate of completion at the end of each academic year.

Language policy

Syed said that schools will have the liberty to follow either state or central policies (two or three language policy) so far as languages are concerned. Individual schools may also opt to follow History syllabus prescribed by the state and central governments. 

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