BY KELLY CHAIB DE MARES

AZERI OBSERVER STAFF WRITER

Francesco Banchini, CEO and Director of European Azerbaijan School has materialized his initiative by establishing the first International Baccalaureate (IB) association in the region. Last Friday, in the company of its founding partners from the Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan and the European School in Georgia, the launch took place at the Caucasus and Central Asia Association of IB World Schools.

The cooperation within this organization seeks to share knowledge, promote teacher training and exchange educational strategies. As Brice Borno, the Head of International Baccalaureate Programmes at the European School of Georgia, pointed out, “the best resources for teachers are one another”.

Francesco Banchini, CEO and Director of European Azerbaijan School

The Association has the approval from the International Baccalaureate. This institutional support was demonstrated through an emotional online speech by the IB regional lead, Vedrana Pavletic, who recalled that “teachers must stay inspired to teach, and the best way is building strong communities”. The person in charge of carrying out the support of the Azerbaijani government was Elnur Aliyev, adviser to the Minister of Education.

The vision of the Association is to become an extensive learning community. The parties are confident that their union will grow, with the addition of other schools from Azerbaijan and the region. Their plans also include an annual international conference; the first of which took place in Baku on December 10 – 12.

The Experimental Learning Conference attended by delegations from Kazakhstan and Georgia and international key speakers, was held in Baku on December 10 – 12.

The Experimental Learning Conference summoned a large delegation from Kazakhstan, and international key speakers, university expert, Debra Williams, and the Head and CEO of the Sotogrande International School in Spain, Jak Kearney – all with the same purpose of sharing ideas on international education, and new ways of learning, by doing.

The European Azerbaijan School is a private school authorized by the Ministry of Education, that provides education to local and foreign students, within the framework of International Baccalaureate programs.