IB seems to be the new buzz word in Indian education space. With new schools getting affliated to IB, this is offering new avenues. This is also creating more confusion for parents. In this series, SchoolCountry will aim to demistify IB.
What is IB:
IB or International Baccalaureate is the new school board that is gaining prominence in India. As the name suggests, it is a non profit educational foundation established in 1968 in Geneva, Switzerland and currently working with 3200+ schools in 141 countries. Over 960,000 students aged 3 to 19 years are studying in schools affiliated to IB programs.
IB in India:
IB or International Baccalaureate arrived in India quiet late. Though it was present in select schools, it started gaining popularity only in the last 10 odd years. However, it has found acceptance fast and currently 84 schools. Currently IB schools can only be found in large Tier-1 such as Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad, Banglore, Hyderabad etc. Though much less than 9000+ CBSE and ~1000 ICSE board schools, but this is catching up fast.
IB programs:
IB prides itself in being focussed on the overall development of the student and aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable young people who have intercultural respect and understanding. It offers 3 educational programs, namely
- PYP or Primary year program for KG to Class-5
- MYP or Middle year program for Class-6 to Class-10
- DP or Diploma program for Class-11 and Class-12
Salient features:
- Course content and focus: IB ensures equal focus on all aspects of learning. Thus Maths, Science and Languages deserve equal focus and attention in class.
- Teaching methodology: The approach is to teach and learn by doing, by asking questions and by discussing. There is a lot of group based learning and activities rather than individual work.
- Recognition: IB curriculum is recognized in universities abroad and provides a good pathway if the student wants to pursue higher education abroad. Even within India, Association of Indian Universities (AIU) rates IB at par with CBSE, ICSE etc for admissions to colleges in India.
- Focus beyond academics: IB schools tend to pride themselves in helping with the overall development of the child. Through their unique methodology, they claim that the student is more confident, open minded and collaborative.
- Expenses: So far, the IB schools in India are quiet expensive. With average annual tuition fee at INR 300,000. However, with increasing number of schools and growing acceptance of IB, the school fee are likely to come down.
You can discover more at the IB website. Hope that answered your questions about IB (International Baccalaureate) schools in India. Next up we will consider who should go for IB schools, if at all. For this, we will consider all aspects like academics, extra curriculuar, fee, transfers and more.