Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh), June 24 (Agency) To improve the spoken and reading skills of students in the English language, the Andhra Pradesh government on Friday entered into an agreement with Education Testing Services (ETS), the world’s largest assessment, research and learning organisation. The groundbreaking agreement held at Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s office, aimed tofortify language capabilities of students and promote academic excellence by equipping them with the necessary skills to excel on the national learning metrics.As part of the 5-year initiative, ETS will evaluate and certify the English language proficiency of students from Class 3 to 10 across all government schools through its TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign Language) Young Students Series assessments.
A total of over 30 lakh students of the state will be benefitted from the initiative, consisting of over 12 lakh students in primary section and over 17 lakhs in the secondary section.Schools will leverage TOEFL Primary and TOEFL Junior Standard Tests to assess the English reading and listening skills of students in Class 3 through 5 and Class 6 through 9, respectively, while the TOEFL Junior Speaking Test will assess the English-speaking skills of Class 10 students.Since most of the students are considered first-generation English-language learners, customised “Readiness Tests” will determine their readiness to take Certification Tests.