CBSE developing international curriculum, looks to expand in Africa, Middle-East: Secretary

NEW DELHI: A new office in Dubai is not the Central Board of Secondary Education’s only plan towards expansion and internationalisation. The board is also in the process of developing an international curriculum and framework and looking to expand in Africa and Middle-Eastern countries. CBSE secretary Himanshu Gupta said that the education ministry wants to make CBSE a “truly international board”.

Speaking to Careers360, Gupta said: “We will be developing a framework for the internationalisation of curriculum. We will be inviting stakeholders to discuss how we can do it. The ministry also wants to make CBSE a truly international board.”

In November 2023, during his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan had announced plans to establish a CBSE office in Dubai. The National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP 2020) also focuses on internationalisation of education in India, by making the Indian education system self-reliant and compliant to global standards and norms which would enable India to attract a greater number of students from abroad.

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CBSE board expansion

Talking about the need for the board’s expansion, Gupta added: “CBSE has been able to conduct flawless examinations. So, a lot of countries are looking for international boards which can provide proper assessment. Independent assessment is a huge challenge in many countries.”

The countries where the board is looking at expanding initially include ones in Africa and the Middle East.

Asked if this push for internationalisation is in response to the growing popularity of international boards such as International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge, Gupta said, “CBSE is a very sound and strong board. India is becoming a developed country and we really feel the board must also establish its supremacy across the globe. CBSE has huge strength. Right now, it has 30,000 affiliated schools. More than four crore students are studying in our schools.”

In 2021, Delhi created its own board called the Delhi Board of School Education (DBSE) and collaborated with IB and about 37 schools are running the IB curriculum. Before this, all Delhi Government schools were affiliated with the CBSE.

Across the country, several public schools provide students options on boards. According to the exam body’s official website, there are over 400 schools offering Cambridge programmes and qualifications in India. India also has 210 IB world schools and 156 of these teach the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.

CBSE beyond borders

Gupta added, “Internationally, there are about 250 schools affiliated to CBSE. We want to increase this number.”

The CBSE schools abroad are in the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Nepal, Nigeria, Qatar, Uganda, Ghana, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Libya and other countries.

As part of internationalisation of higher education, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and IIT Delhi are the first ones to set up campuses abroad. IIT Madras has a campus in Zanzibar and IIT Delhi in Abu Dhabi. On January 11, the ministry also gave approval to the private Jaipur National University to set up offshore campuses in Dubai and the UAE.