Curtains on BMC’s international schooling

Officials in the civic school education department claimed it couldn’t afford the affiliation fees. Besides, they were unable to recruit trained teachers for these international programmes, the official said

MUMBAI: After its IB school in Vile Parle, the BMC plans to shut its only other school offering an international curriculum, marking the end of the civic body’s attempt to make world-class schooling accessible to children with modest means.

Curtains on BMC’s international schooling

The BMC has thus initiated discussions with parents of students enrolled at its school in Matunga, affiliated to the IGCSE board. The move follows the sudden switching of students at its Matunga school from the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme to the Delhi-based Central Board of School Education (CBSE).

Nearly 300 students are enrolled at these two schools. Officials in the civic school education department claimed it couldn’t afford the affiliation fees. Besides, they were unable to recruit trained teachers for these international programmes, the official said.

These two schools with international curricula were opened in 2021-22, an initiative of then minister for tourism and environment Aaditya Thackeray in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The idea was to provide a global education to children from ordinary families in Mumbai.

Parents of students in the Vile Parle school were upset when the school told them it was shutting its IB curriculum and that students could switch the CBSE board. Left with little choice, they have agreed, although some parents say the BMC sought consent letters from them instead of asking for their preferences.

Civic school education officer Sujata Khare claimed the response from parents was largely supportive. “Nearly 90% of parents have agreed to convert the IB school into a CBSE school,” she said.

Civic officials say it is prohibitively expensive for BMC schools to offer an international curriculum. For an IB affiliation, it costs around ₹9 lakh annually in affiliation and registration fees, while the annual fee for an IGCSE school is around ₹6.55 lakh. In comparison, the annual affiliation cost for a CBSE school is around ₹45,000.

BMC education committee chairperson Rajeshree Shirwadkar said, “We want to focus on state board and CBSE education and train our teachers accordingly. Once we succeed in strengthening this system, we can consider international boards in the future,” she said.

Further justifying the closure of the two IB and IGSE programmes, Shirwadkar said students enrolled in these schools would find it difficult to enrol in similar schools if they were to shift to other cities with their parents. “Also, after Class 10, most students usually choose state board or CBSE curricula,” she argued.

However, the move has been criticised by some education groups and parents. Rohit Dandawate, president of the Global Teacher-Parents Forum, said, “If the municipality wanted to close these schools, why did it run them for so many years? Clearly, the BMC was paying the affiliation fees, so why is it suddenly a problem?”