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Mumbai Schools join the National Leaders of Education Programme
To improve student’s performance and to curb the competition posed by the international schools lining Mumbai, the schools are coming together as part of pilot for National Leaders of Education (NLE), a United Kingdom-based programme.
With international schools lining in Mumbai, many schools are coming together as a part of pilot for National Leaders of Education (a United Kingdom-based programme) to improve student's performance and to curb the competition posed by these international schools.
Last week the programme was kickstarted in India, Kenya and Egypt, under which, 20 schools will receive training in areas and they in turn would offer their expertise to other schools that require their help.
Although most of the schools that are participating in the project are Catholic schools, a few non- Catholic schools have also started showing interest and signing up.
One of the participating schools, St Stanislaus hoped to improve their teaching-learning practices and the curriculum through the programme.
"Schools have to share resources and improve or get crushed by the competition," said Anna Correa, principal of the school.
According to scholars their is an urgent need to share resources as that will help raise students' achievements and catch up to the new breed of international schools, which are spreading like wildfire in the city.
"Most schools in the state are running in a traditional manner. They are afraid of maintaining records and even sharing data with others. If they want to face the competition, they need to collaborate with other schools," said Francis Joseph, director, R Minds Education, a school development company. R Minds Education launched the programme in association with Archdiocesan Board of Education, which runs 150-odd schools.
In an attempt to attract Christian population, schools have introduced the Cambridge International Examination (CIE) curriculum.
"We were reluctant to start international schools as our mission is to provide affordable education. But with the Christian population opting for international schools, we decided to venture there, while retaining our state board schools." said Father Francis Swamy, joint-secretary, ABE.
Although, some principals hold the opposite view that the mentorship programme might not work well.
"In the UK, the government asks the low-performing schools to get mentored by the high-performing ones but here schools might object to such classifications," said Rohan Bhat, chairperson of the Children's Academy of Schools in Kandivli and Malad.
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