Oxford University Press to focus on tier-II cities

Oxford University Press (OUP) the  department of the University of Oxford, which has publishing operations in India since 1912 is involved in a school publishing programme. It publishes e-learning/digital chapter wise material, most of which is free of cost for SSC, ICSE and CBSE syllabus aiding teaching and learning. Now, with 5 years behind it, OUP would focus on tier II cities.

On OUP’s radar are small towns and tier II cities like Gorakhpur, Faizabad, Hissar, Rohtak, Gulbarga, Tumkur, Siliguri, Haldia, Rourkela, Tumkur, Aurangabad, Nashik, Trichur and Tirunavelli.

"We publish material in the form of CDs and printed text, which teachers can make use of while in the classroom and students too can use content made suitable for them to be able to understand concepts in a better way. We formulate these teaching aids only from kindergarten to 8th grade. These materials are not a substitute for books,” Ranjan Kaul, director, publishing, Oxford University Press said.

Close to 11,000 schools have signed up so far with OUP’s courses for various subjects like English, Mathematics, environmental studies, Science, Computer Science, History, and Geography. The department markets its offerings directly to schools and that is how it channels through to its target audiences teachers and students. Its supplementary school texts cover all subjects and claims it is the market leader in the English language module. It also publishes atlases and dictionaries.

The material for students is for in-school-use and something to look at and practice at home along as texts and online course content. Difficult concepts are explained through interactive exercises and animations that cab be used either on white boards or any simple projection system. Online resources include worksheets, lesson plans, class assignments and question banks. Most of the content is free except the printed course material for students which costs ranging from Rs 100-Rs 180 per text book.

OUP also has teacher training programmes wherein it educates and grooms teachers on how to teach better in a way that students absorb faster. These sessions are also free for teachers and around 65,000 teachers have attended these programmes during last year.

Specific courses have been created to provide a variety of downloadable resources to teachers who use OUP India's school courses. These teacher-empowerment materials include modules on strategies that work in a classroom, relevant write- ups, and skill- building resources.