Nagpur: In a significant move to promote its English medium schools, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) recently sanctioned over Rs 50 crore to upgrade its schools, of which 50% is for the seven English medium civic schools.
The civic body runs a total of 124 schools in Nagpur city limits. Of them seven are English medium schools, of which six are managed by NGO Akanksha Foundation while one is under direct NMC control. The NMC’s decision to loosen its purse strings for English medium schools is not without reason as for the first time ever parents are queuing up for admissions to Corporation schools.
Akanksha Foundation data shows that from their first year of operation (2021-22), the enrollment has jumped a whopping 161%. This is in sharp contrast to the steadily declining enrolment in other civic schools i.e. Marathi, Hindi and Urdu.
According to Somsuvra Chatterjee, who heads Akanksha Foundation’s Nagpur operations, they started in 2021 with 504 students and in 2023 that number went up to 1,327. Besides, over 850 applications were received for 400-odd seats in schools where everything is free, including books and uniforms.
The Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Abhijit Chaudhari said that education is their top priority. While we continue with our regular work regarding road, water, sewage etc. providing education is a major focus area for which the experience of shifting to English-medium schools has been very good, he said.
He further said that about Rs 25 crore has been allocated to the seven schools so that they can ramp up their infrastructure. As the classes progress, Akanksha Foundation too wishes to expand the student capacity. We will use funds to build more classrooms, improve existing infrastructure, start digital classrooms and many more. An almost similar amount will also be spent on other civic schools, he said.
The public-private partnership model with Akanksha Foundation means NMC has to take care of utilities like water electricity etc. and other student materials — books, stationery, mid-day meals. While Akanksha Foundation is responsible for student admissions, teacher recruitment and management, designing pedagogy and day-to-day operations of schools.
In future, the civic body is open to the idea of converting more schools to English-medium with the State Board affiliation to continue. Mumbai’s civic body has started its own CBSE affiliated schools.