India tops at the Cambridge exams

India has the highest number of top scorers in the 10th standard International General Certificate Secondary Education exams.  The University of Cambridge International, which conducts these exams across 157 countries, declared the results early last week. The numbers of students scoring A* and A (top scores) is 5% more than other countries. And schools in Mumbai have performed exceptionally well.

“Students from India perform very well compared to other countries,” Ian Chambers, the regional manager for South Asia, University of Cambridge Examinations, said. “Indians are brought up in a culture of education and learning. We see good schools, good teachers, and more important good students here. And that is why the exceptional results.”

More schools were adopting the IGCSE curriculum, he said. At present, 230 schools follow it. In India, 38% of the students who took the exams scored A* and A. In other countries the figure is 33%. And schools in Mumbai have performed better than other schools in the country and the world.

At least 87% of the Dhirubhai Ambani International School (DA-IS) students who took the exams scored A* and A (see picture). The other city schools that performed well in  the exams are Podar International School and Utpal Sanghvi.

“We train our students rigorously,” Abhimanyu Basu, deputy head of international curriculum at DA-IS, said. “In most schools, students are asked to take up eight subjects because the curriculum is flexible. We insist on nine subjects for a better development. This year we have eight students who got A* in all the nine subjects.”