Mumbai international schools woo middle-class parents

No longer is international education restricted to the city’s elite. Increasing number of middle-class parents is turning to international baccalaureate primary years programme (IB PYP) for their children.

Given the programme’s reputation for enquiry-based learning and stress-free education, many parents are giving up conventional boards to try these new programmes. Even the schools, hoping to attract students from middle-class, are offering these programmes at a price that fits the middle-class budget.

Schools like Ajmera Global School, Borivli, offer PYP at an affordable rate of Rs30,000 per annum for primary students. “Our fees are cheaper when compared to other international schools. We have many takers for PYP. Currently, there are 275 students from nursery to Std VI in the school,” said Hima Doshi, principal, Ajmera Global School.

Maya Kriplani, a parent who enrolled her child in PYP, said, “We thought that international schools will be out of our budget. But on approaching a few schools, we realised that not all schools demand exorbitant fees. Also, since our child will not need to go for tuition classes, it works out to be almost same.”

Besides the fees, parents are attracted by the ‘stress-free’ and ‘enquiry-based’ format of such programmes, said Farzana Dohadwalla, IB advisor for South Asia. “Instead of the rote learning that defines conventional Indian education, IB PYP are application-based; students are free to choose their subjects, decide their textbooks and have a less structured method of training through brainstorming sessions and greater interaction with teachers,” she added.

Sanjai Rao shifted her son to an international school. “I shifted my son to Ajmera Global Academy this year because he likes to research topics, experiment and rely on application-based learning.”