There are currently 193 IB schools in India. The Delhi government has reached out to the International Baccalaureate (IB) to apply for IB programmes in 30 schools that are to pilot its Delhi Board of School Education (DBSE).
On Tuesday, the Delhi government had announced that 30 of its schools will be affiliated to the flagship DBSE in the academic session 2021-2022, of which 20 will be its new Schools of Specialised Excellence (SOSEs) and 10 will be government Sarvodaya Vidyalayas in East Delhi. The Indian Express has learnt that the government has expressed interest to the IB for implementation of its programmes in these schools, and that the IB has formulated a proposal for this partnership. The selected schools are currently working on their applications for candidacy to be submitted for its approval.
The IB is a private international education board with its Foundation Office in Geneva. It has around 5,000 schools globally. There are currently 193 IB schools in India, all of which are top-end elite private schools. It is also an expensive programme — the combined application for candidacy fees across the 30 schools is a little over Rs 50 lakh.
The schools are currently working on their candidacy applications and have been directed to identify 7-8 teachers each for training. Following this, the IB will assign consultants, and the schools are to begin trial implementation for one academic year, which will include many ‘professional development workshops’, after which they can submit applications for authorisation.
Top education department officials did not respond to queries regarding what the exact nature of the relationship between the IB and the DBSE will be. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had earlier said that the DBSE is partnering with the Australian Council for Education Research to “create progressive curriculum and assessment structures”.
According to presentations made to the selected schools, the IB’s programmes are planned to be introduced from kindergarten to class 8 in the 10 selected Sarvodaya Vidyalayas, and all the grades in the SOSEs, which are from classes 9 to 12. The five proposed Humanities SOSEs are planned to be “handled entirely by the IB”, while in the eight proposed science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) SOSEs, a “knowledge partner, having experience in training students for JEE and NEET, will be helping in curriculum development and providing academic and non-academic support…”
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