Private schools to join Maharashtra international board

Private schools will be part of the state’s international school board, which is set to be operational from the next academic year, state education minister Vinod Tawde said at the launch of the board on Tuesday.

According to the earlier norms, only government schools were allowed to become part of the board. Through the Maharashtra International Education Board (MIEB), the state education department aims to bring in a curriculum similar to that of international schools in state-run institutions. A total of 455 schools, including government, aided and self-financed schools from across the state, have applied to become a part of the board. In the first phase, the schools will follow the curriculum of the new board from pre-primary to Class 3, with Marathi as the medium of instruction for the first year. Currently, the governing body of the board is in the process of scanning the applications from schools to select the final 100.

Tawde said the government would pick 25 private schools and 25 aided schools, along with 50 government schools, as the first 100 schools under the board. “We have got around 40-45 applications from private schools this year, so we decided to allow a few good private schools to join,” he said.

Heramb Kulkarni, an educationist from the state, said the government needs to be careful before allowing private schools to become a part of the initiative. “While some private schools are doing good work, they need to set criteria for selection. The move should not benefit schools run by politicians and big corporates,” he said.

Government schools that would become a part of the selected 100 will be named ‘Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari International School’ in the memory of the late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Currently, 13 schools in the state are being run as per the MIEB curriculum on a pilot basis. “We want to ensure people pick state’s international schools over international boards. Experts who are a part of the initiative have come up with a great curriculum,” said Tawde.

First Published: Dec 26, 2018 09:28 IST