Education in development.

Advent of 5-star international schools
Although international schools affiliated with offshore examination boards such as the Middle States Examinations Board, USA and Cambridge International Examin-ations, UK (e.g Woodstock, Mussoorie (estb. 1852); Kodaikanal International (estb.1901) and Hebron School (estb.1899) have been providing quality, internationally benchmarked education to a small minority of students for over a century, a new crop of international schools distinguished by sprawling campuses, ICT-enabled infrastructure, contemporary pedagogies and affiliation with the Geneva-based International Baccalaureate Organi-sation and a rejuvenated CIE, has flowered in India following the historic economic liberalisation and deregulation initiative of 1991.
Among the first new genre 5-star international schools to be established in India (at a project cost of Rs.28 crore) was the Mahindra United World College India, sited at Mulshi, near Pune which admitted its first batch of Plus Two students in 1998, following clearance of a 30-year application by the HRD ministry in Delhi. This break through set the precedent for a rash of elite international schools across the country. They include The International School, Bangalore (2000, estimated project cost: Rs.80 crore); Pathways World School, Gurgaon (2003, Rs.100 crore); G.D. Goenka World School, Gurgaon (2003, Rs.100 crore); Chinmaya International Residential School, Coimbatore (1996, Rs.30 crore); Indus International, Bangalore (2003, Rs.35 crore); Ecole Mondiale, Mumbai (2004, Rs.80 crore) among others. Currently The Association of Inter-national Schools of India (TAISI, estb.2006) has a membership of 28 state-of-the-art internationally benchmarked schools as its members.
Although the new international schools which demand and get annual tuition fees running into several lakhs, are anathema to Left intellectuals who dominate the national education discourse, they have undoubtedly set new benchmarks in school education. Fully committed to harnessing ICT-driven peda-gogies and noted for their balanced curriculums, profes-sional pastoral care and counseling, they have played an important role in raising the aspirations and standards of 12 education providers in India. These 5-star international schools often headed by expatriate principals, offer English-medium education of global standards at a fraction of the price of private schools abroad. Little wonder they are beginning to attract students from around the world, and are prospective foreign exchange earners for the country.
Comments Anu Monga, the highly respected principal of the Bangalore International School (estb.1969) and chairperson of TAISI: “With their new pedagogies, vertically and horizontally integrated curriculums and community outreach programmes, international schools have set new standards and benchmarks in Indian education. They offer the promise of transforming India into an international hub of English medium education”.