Under new programme for inclusion of e assessment after Urdu to educate Middle Years Programme (MYP), will be huge beneficiary for students as they will study under language acquisition while only sit Pakistan Studies and Islamiat as additional subjects to their end of school examinations. This was said by International Baccalaureate (IB) education on Wednesday. The IB said that the programme is being launched in consultation with the ministry of federal education and professional training and the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC). “It will get official approval from both offices soon,” it claimed. The IB education said that the inclusion of Urdu, which students will study under language acquisition, means that MYP students will now only sit Pakistan Studies and Islamiat as additional subjects to their end of school examinations. “They will complete their Urdu studies under the on-screen examinations element of the eAssessment, which includes reading, writing and speaking skills,” it explained. According to the statement, the award winning MYP eAssessment is internationally recognized and combines ePortfolios of coursework with media-rich on-screen examinations that enable creative responses, or responses that require students to manipulate data and present new understandings using much more dynamic methods than on paper. Uzma Shujjat, Regional Manager of Pakistan for the IB, said “The International Baccalaureate is committed to promoting mother tongues, and we have been working hard to ensure that the MYP and its eAssessment matches the national requirement for students to study Urdu in order to progress to higher education.” She added that this is a significant and much welcomed development for the programme in the country where, she said, the students will reap the benefit of studying, and sitting examinations for, 10 instead of 11 subjects. “We also look forward to welcoming many more schools on their journey to offering the MYP to students. This year alone, we have seen the addition of four new IB World Schools offering the programme, moving towards the IB continuum of education,” she hoped. She further said that the MYP is a programme for students aged 11 to 16 years old and is designed specifically for teenagers’ learning styles and is given equivalence to the Secondary School Certificate by IBCC. “Through the programme students develop future-ready skills through enquiry-based work and build a solid foundation for high school, life and work,” she claimed. Shujjat recalled “MYP students have an appetite for lifelong learning, matched with a resilience to keep going, which is developed through the IB learner profile. It is because of their determination, developed throughout the programme that MYP students are better prepared for the demands of the IB Diploma Programme; they are ready for the challenge and are familiar with the IB’s style of learning”.