Maha plans 100 international schools with separate board

Appointments on the MIEB will be made soon and an expert committee will be formed to decide curriculum for the schools

After deciding to set up 100 international schools across Maharashtra, the state has planned to form the Maharashtra International Education Board (MIEB).

Unlike other international boards, the MIEB will have international schools in languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, Telegu, Kannada and Tamil. (Representational photo/ Getty Images)

It will be an autonomous body, which will decide curriculum for the schools and conduct examinations.

The MIEB will be second board of the state after Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE).

The decision to establish 100 international schools, on par with international standards, was taken to provide quality education in the state. The schools are likely to start from the next academic year.

Vinod Tawde, state education minister, said the MIEB will have the autonomy to take every decision related to the international schools.

“In the first phase, we want to start 100 international schools that will impart international-level education. All these will be existing government schools, which will be affiliated with the MIEB,” he said.

Appointments on the board will be made soon and an expert committee will be formed to decide curriculum for the schools, said a senior official from the school education department.

Maharashtra has international boards such as International Baccalaureate (IB), headquartered at Geneva, and the Indian General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), run from Cambridge, UK. It is for the first time that the state will have its own international board.

Unlike other international boards, the MIEB will have international schools in languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, Telegu, Kannada and Tamil. The board will also have the authority to affiliate schools from other states and even international schools, the official added.

As per initial plan, 10 schools from the state will be shortlisted as model schools and will each help nine other schools to become international schools. The model schools will be named as ‘Ojas’ and remaining 90 will be called ‘Tejas’.

The international schools will impart primary, secondary and higher secondary education that means from Class 1 to 12.

Tawde said the schools will also help students who can’t afford international-level education at private schools.