Improved school curriculum helps Asians excel

[Tassawur]

Improved school curriculum helps Asians excel

Dawn December 8,2010
TOKYO: Improved school curriculums and teacher training in major Asian economies helped the region`s students score top marks in an international survey of academic success released Tuesday, researchers said.

Students in Shanghai city outperformed their peers around the world in reading, mathematics and science, according to the new survey from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

South Korea, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong also ranked in the top 10, thanks partly to educational reforms and improving study habits of students, the OECD said.

The Paris-based body surveyed the academic performance of 15-year-old students in its 34 member nations and 41 partner economies in 2009 for the Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA.

“Shanghai is the pioneer in education reforms in China,” OECD researcher Miyako Ikeda said in Tokyo, adding that more specific social, economic and cultural factors explaining Asian success would be explored in future.

“The criteria for a good student are obedience and high grades, which restrict the thinking and children`s capability to use knowledge.” South Korea was the only country to improve on above-average test scores in the previous survey in 2000, taking second place in this year`s ranking.

But South Korea has seen the gap between high and low achievers widen, said Ikeda. —AFP