Oxford University Press India has partnered with the Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA) for the Teaching Professionals’ Olympiad (TPO), a first-of-its-kind national competition to reward, recognize and celebrate teachers. TPO 2017 will be held in 14 subject tracks and four languages (English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu), across 28 cities in India and one centre in Dubai on December 9th 2017. Designed as a two-hour multiple-choice objective test, the TPO focuses on subject pedagogy, classroom practices, logical ability and communication skills of teachers. It also offers a unique Challenger track which is an additional test for in-depth subject expertise aimed to identify teachers with great conceptual depth of the subject.
Oxford University Press (OUP) will sponsor the top two winners of the English Challenger track for a two week Oxford English Language Teachers’ Academy Masterclass at the University of Oxford, UK. The 3rd to 6th rank holders in the English Challenger track will be sponsored for the Oxford Teachers’ Academy online training program in partnership with the University of Oxford; and rank holders 7th to 16th will receive sponsorship for OUP’s Online Teacher Training Program.
Speaking about OUP’s association with CENTA, Mr. Sivaramakrishnan V., Managing Director, Oxford University Press India said, “Oxford University Press strongly believes that the teacher is the key pivot to deliver quality education in our institutions, and hence we view their professional development as vital for the entire education eco-system. OUP’s wide range of training workshops and programmes for teachers are designed to further nurture quality teaching practices in India. He added “We are excited about our partnership with the CENTA Teaching Professionals’ Olympiad which is a unique platform to reward and recognize teachers.”
In addition to the training opportunities sponsored by Oxford University Press, winners of TPO 2017 can look forward to a wide range of rewards from other organizations: 17 winners will attend the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai. Winners can look forward to cash awards and profiling opportunities in The Hindu. They will also get a unique opportunity to co-author a book to be published by Central Square Foundation. Schools and B. Ed colleges/teacher education institutions with the maximum number of winners will also get Dell desktop PCs. 50 winners will receive ‘social impact awards’ from Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and 800 winners will get ‘TPO Certificates’ from CENTA. Every participant will receive a detailed confidential performance report.
Ramya Venkataraman, Founder & CEO of CENTA, says, “The response from teachers to this initiative has been overwhelming. Over 15,000 teachers are now part of the growing TPO community. The participants over the last two years have come from 500+ cities, towns and villages across the country, travelling to their nearest test centre. This kind of response motivates us to continue making this initiative truly valuable and one-of-its-kind for teachers.”
