Dubai: India’s Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will open a centre in Dubai to cater to its schools in the region, an Indian minister announced on Wednesday.
Speaking via Skype from New Delhi, Dr M.M. Pallam Raju, Minister for Human Resource Development, told a packed conference of CBSE schools at the Indian High School in Dubai: “I am happy to say that a CBSE sub-regional centre will be opened in Dubai [shortly].”
He said the centre will cater to specific needs of CBSE schools in the region and co-ordinate with NCERT for timely availability of textbooks, besides addressing other issues such as fee structure etc.
Vineet Joshi, CBSE Chairman, told XPRESS that the centre would be ready in a couple of months. “The biggest challenge facing CBSE schools in the region is the increasing number of students – there are 60,000 students between grades 9 and 12 alone - and the huge responsibility it calls for. The regional centre will help deal with specific issues concerning them.”
CBSE schools growing
A.K. Shrivastava, chairman of the council of CBSE affiliated schools in the Gulf, described how the council has grown from 15 to 133 schools in five years. He said it is a measure of pride that CBSE schools in the region fare extremely well with a small failure rate.
Indian Consul-General Sanjay Verma, who was guest of honour, emphasised the need to realise the full potential of girl students, the relevance and benefits of sports, the importance of going beyond academics and above all, having deeper empathy and better value systems.
He concluded by quoting Alvin Toffler who said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Radhakrishnan Nair, Council Secretary, proposed the vote of thanks.
