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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Kids impacted by CBSE-I syllabus crisis eye placement in Indian schools

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By Conrad Prabhu — MUSCAT: Feb 11 - Around 450 Indian students of Modern International School Oman (MISO), which was informed by the Ministry of Education last month that it did have authorisation to offer an Indian curriculum being taught at the school, are now pinning their hopes on the Board of Indian Schools to secure their further education in the Sultanate.


The children, enrolled in classes ranging from Kindergarten to Std 8, are preparing to exit the Al Athaiba-based private school at the end of the current academic term.  It follows an announcement by the school management that it was pulling the plug on its CBSE-I programme (an international version of the curriculum administered by the Central Board for Secondary Education – CBSE, India).


That decision in turn was prompted by the Education Ministry’s warning to MISO that as an international school it lacked the license to offer an essentially Indian-based curriculum.


Hopes that the children would be accommodated in other Indian schools offering the CBSE-I syllabus were dashed earlier this month when the New Delhi based board announced that it was discontinuing the curriculum altogether. Consequently, Indian schools in Oman, and indeed elsewhere around the world, can no longer offer the International version of the curriculum with effect from the next academic year.


The parents of the 450 children of MISO are now resigned to finding placements for their wards in regular community schools administered by the Board of Directors of Indian Schools in Oman. A database of the children in question has been compiled for onward submission to the Board for readmission into schools offering the regular CBSE syllabus, a parent said. “We have listed the names of these children, their preferences in terms of the schools they wish to seek readmission, and so on,” the parent, who identified himself by his initials ‘MV’, said.


“This has been handed over to the management of MISO, which has assured us that it would be presented to the Board of Indian Schools.”


Representatives of a support group comprising parents of the affected children have also met informally with senior members of the Board of Indian Schools to seek assurances that all 450 of the children impacted by the crisis at MISO would be absorbed at the start of the 2017-2018 academic year.


“These children, and their parents as well, have suffered a great deal of uncertainty and trauma ever since the crisis over the CBSE-I curriculum erupted last month.  A firm pledge by the School Board to ensure that none of the affected children will be left out will be welcome indeed!” he said.


While applications for new admissions in Indian community schools generally outnumber available seats by a sizable margin, the School Board has, in past years, taken steps to absorb every applicant, either by bolstering capacity or running two sessions at some schools.


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