In the areas of higher education and general education, Finland will work with Kerala. Finland’s educational system is renowned for being the greatest in the world. It will collaborate with Kerala in the areas of pre-primary education and care, technical education, teacher exchange programmes, science and math instruction, and the grading scheme for different phases of student assessment. Academic ties will also be established between Finland’s and Kerala’s research and academic institutes.
A high-level team from Kerala, headed by Chief Secretary V. P. Joy, and State Secretary of Education Dan Koivulaakso of Finland had discussions that resulted in the decision. The group from Kerala is in Finland at the invitation of Li Andersson, the Minister of Education of Finland.
The negotiations will continue at the official level, and a time-bound framework will be developed. The Kerala delegation mentioned the state’s efforts to reform the school curriculum as well as their desire to learn about the finest of the Finnish educational model.
Finland sees India as a significant partner for educational collaboration. Mr. Koivulaakso stated that Finland has specially engaged an academic expert in New Delhi to advance the talks with the Union administration.
The State Council of Educational Research and Training, the State Institute of Educational Management and Training – Kerala, and the State Institute of Educational Technology will take part in discussions with academic organisations in Finland.
The nodal organisation to carry forward the discussions will be the Global Innovation Network for Teaching and Learning, a network of higher education institutions in Finland with partners in China, India, and Africa for collaborative efforts in research and education.
Kerala will be open to implementing pre-primary education models from Finland. In order to boost ICT-enabled education in the State’s schools, the State would also help Finland establish Student IT Clubs along the same model as Kerala’s Little KITEs IT Clubs. This is a unique initiative of Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE).