International Baccalaureate? IGCSE?
Public Schools and established schools must go for them!
Indian schools need updating!Indian schools must become international standard schools. There is an Indian Public Schools Conference organisation.Not much is heard of its activities, perhaps its activities are not worth reporting in the press or worthy of public attention. It is time we stir them all to new initiatives and action!
There are schools,or at least some of the good ones which are making news these days are the so-called International Schools or International Public schools. They are announcing the offer of the prestigious International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme awarded by the IBO,Geneva,a non-profitable educational organisation located in Geneva.Some of the famous Swiss schools too conform to the French education model.The IB plus, another one, the IGCSE are now the two current favourites with the rich and ambitious crowd! IGCSE is now on a marketing drive to make it wider, as it operates in 150 different countries.
Most of these elite schools are promoted by businessmen,Indian industry houses like Birlas or NRI US-based. It successful men or plain local businessmen with an eye for education plus the business acumen! Nothing wrong!
The Baccalaureate has again a long histopry. How many among these quick-rich schools or their promotors, less likely their recruiters, the schoolheads, might have actually seen with their eyes the workings of the French Lycees? Or, their Swiss counterparts? Or, the German gymnasiums?
We have to move with the times and good education can be promoted only with sound investment and management skills. So,we welcome these high quality high schools.Since this very magazine started, its origins were from a school which,in the year 1962 called itself proudly as an International School and this magazine,originally started with the longish title of International School Newsletter! Why such an introduction? For the obvious reason:we know a great deal of the Public School education system in England where the concept first originated and where it still has some relevance. England was a highly class-conscious nation,even today it is!So, there is a long tradition of class divisions, people understand, instinctively that they belong to some class , inside or outside of these classes!
So, the great historian, George Trevelyan, the rather self-consciously proud style he writes(English Social Hisotry) how the Public schools system came about. How the great headmaster, Thomas Arnold at Rugby practiced his rules and rituals and every one of the public schools heads in India must read this history and if possible the life of Thomas Arnold too.
Now back to the Baccalaureate. It has become in India lately a fashion to attract rich kids to some urban schools. The Baccalaureate has again a long histopry. How many among these quick-rich schools or their promotoirs, less likely their recruiters, the schoolheads, might have actually seen with their eyes the workings of the French Lycees? Or, their Swiss counterparts? Or, the German gymnasiums? Unless you are really interested in the history of European education traditions, you may not have a hang of it all? Thuis Baccalaureate busuniess! Anyway, assuming, the America-returned Yuppies, the likely targets for these schools, might at least can benefit if they are looking for these schools.
What we like to make here is the one observation:the time is here to upgrade Indian secondary education. The one best way the government and public education policy can do this is to urge all the members of the Indian public schools conference member schools to go for the Baccalaureate education model.Thereby we would really make the timely reform of the many of the well-established,century old education institutions with a history of their own.Some like the Lawrence schools have long been languishing under tight government control.
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