Cambridge schools get a bigger support team

Cambridge International Examinations manager for East Africa Joseph Mbugua (far left), regional director Sub-Saharan Africa Juan Visser (third left), group Chief Executive of the Cambridge Assessment Simon Lebus and British Council country director Tony Reilly (right) address the media at Brookehouse.

Cambridge International Examinations has unveiled a new and bigger team to support the growing number of schools in sub-Saharan Africa. There are now over 830 schools in this region offering Cambridge programmes and qualifications, which represents an increase of 25% in three years.

More than 50 principals from schools across East Africa attended an event held at Brookhouse School on 1st December to celebrate this milestone. “Our priority at Cambridge is to support schools deliver world class education to their students,” said Simon Lebus, Chief Executive for Cambridge Assessment. “Having additional local support will benefit Cambridge teachers and students across sub-Saharan Africa.”

Cambridge schools and associate schools in South, East and West Africa will now have support from Cambridge staff based in each of these three regions. Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) will work closely with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to achieve an improved and reliable education curriculum that gives students better options in their education and career Through the British Council of Kenya, CIE will spearhead efforts to ensure the education system yields graduates capable of applying knowledge acquired in real life and their career development.

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Mr Tony Reilly, OBE, Country Director British Council Kenya said: “We have been working with Cambridge International Examinations for 30 years and place huge value on our global partnership, which extends access to the Cambridge curriculum in over 50 countries worldwide. In East Africa this enables students in over 140 schools to study programmes like Cambridge IGCSE and Cambridge International A Level, which set the global standard for international education.”

According to Cambridge International Examinations manager for East Africa Joseph Mbugua, to ensure quality examinations and adapt to internationally accepted curricula they involve education stakeholders in their programmes. Mr Mbugua said there was need to ensure the level of education is in line with the global market expectations by employers.

“Employers are looking for individuals who have diverse knowledge acquired from training and more importantly those capable to show that they have skills internationally accepted and those that cut across the global village demands,” he said.

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