The Kindergarten Starters School Tops UAE Entrants in ‘Olympiad' Competition for Teachers

Dubai, United Arab Emirates 14 March 2021:  The Kindergarten Starters School has topped the scoreboard for UAE schools participating in the Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA) Teaching Professional’s Olympiad (TPO) as one of only 10 schools worldwide to register seven finalists. 

CENTA’s teaching practice competition attracted around 25,000 individual entrants from all over the world, of which 500 were shortlisted as finalists on March 5, 2021. The organisation aims to elevate the teaching profession by assessing and certifying competencies, connecting teachers to great opportunities and supporting their professional development.

Participants in the Teaching Professional’s Olympiad are assessed with situational exam questions that test their understanding of teaching, classroom behaviour and practice. Teachers sitting the assessments are required to demonstrate best practice according to the teacher’s subject specialism and grade.

Sixty-six teachers from KGS participated in the competition, and Nisha Mohsin, a Middle School English teacher at KGS, was the highest-scoring entrant for the school and all UAE participating schools, ranking 87th out of 500 finalists.  

Nisha Mohsin said: “I thank my school management and leaders for their motivation and encouragement to appear for the Teachers’ Olympiad. It was rewarding to have secured a position within the top 100 in the CENTA TPO 2020. The questions asked in the exam were challenging and I am happy to have fared well. I aim to move into the Top 50 in the next TPO.”

Asha Alexander, Principal/CEO of The Kindergarten Starters, said: “I’m delighted that teachers from The Kindergarten Starters have performed excellently at the CENTA Teaching Performance Olympiad. They have done themselves and all at The Kindergarten Starters community proud. Our school has established itself on the principle of lifelong learning which we instil in our students as well as teaching staff, and this achievement is testimony to that.”

CENTA was founded six years ago by educationalist and entrepreneur Ramya Venkataraman. The teaching accreditation is widely recognised in the region and India.  CENTA is also working in developing nations to help support and improve teaching standards. 

Ramya Venkataraman, Founder and CEO of CENTA, said: "CENTA Teaching Professionals' Olympiad, our annual and now international competition, aims to reward, recognise and celebrate competent teachers. I offer a huge congratulations to The Kindergarten Starters, Dubai, from the GEMS Education group, for being one of the 10 schools having the maximum number of winners in CENTA TPO 2020."