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Institution Profile

Muni International School, Delhi

Among India’s unique budget private schools which have emerged as alternatives
to dysfunctional government schools, MIS, ranked India’s #1 BPS for three years
(2015-17) by EducationWorld, has emerged as a model institution

AUTAR NEHRU
STABLISHED IN 2002 to
provide affordably-priced
English-medium education
Eto children of working-class
parents living in the ‘regularised un-
authorised’ housing colonies of West
Delhi, during the past two decades
Muni International School (MIS)
has developed into the country’s role
model budget private school (BPS).
Promoted by former teachers and
idealist entrepreneurs as alternatives
to dysfunctional government schools
defined by crumbling buildings,
chronic teacher truancy, English
language aversion and rock-bottom
learning outcomes, the number of
BPS countrywide has ballooned to an
estimated 400,000 with a massive
enrolment of 60 million children.
In this category of primary-
secondaries fashioned after private
English-medium schools, MIS has
emerged as a model institution. In
the annual EducationWorld India Thakur (right) with Japanese ambassador & students: extraordinary results
School Rankings (EWISR) which
rank BPS separately inter se, MIS
was ranked #1 for three years (2015- learning, we have been able to im- (estb.1980) conferred its Change-
2017). In the latest EWISR 2020-21, prove children’s learning outcomes maker School encomium on MIS.
MIS is ranked #2 in India and #1 in dramatically. In MIS, we believe that “Our peer-learning system en-
Delhi NCR. grand buildings and infrastructure courages children to learn collabora-
Credit for nurturing MIS into the and highly qualified teachers are tively, giving and receiving feedback
country’s foremost BPS is unani- not necessary to provide quality K-X and continuously measure each
mously given to its visionary and education,” says Thakur. other’s progress. This is supplement-
can-do founder-director Ashok According to Thakur, the school’s ed by our IPDS (inherent potential
Thakur, a former Indian Army peer learning pedagogy with teachers discovery system), under which stu-
infantryman (1984-1992) who after discharging the role of facilitators, dents are periodically tested by their
early retirement promoted MIS with has recorded extraordinary academic teachers who provide supplementary
his life savings of Rs.1.40 lakh and a results from children, the majority support and remedial education if
first batch of 26 children. of them first generation learners required,” explains Thakur.
“The prime objectives of MIS are with negligible academic support at Another distinguishing feature
to develop the latent potential of home. In the academic year 2019, of the MIS curriculum is that every
each child and provide English-me- all MIS students who wrote the student has to compulsorily learn
dium primary-secondary education class X exam of the Central Board one of five foreign languages — Ger-
to children of working-class house- of Secondary Education cleared the man, Japanese, French, Spanish and
holds and enable them to break out testing exams of the country’s largest Arabic. “To prepare children for the
of the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. pan-India schools board with an new globalised world, every student
During the past 18 years since MIS average score of 75 percent. Uniquely has to learn, speak, read and write at
was founded, we have demonstrated in 2013, MIS was selected by the least one of the five foreign languag-
that good quality education can Japanese embassy in New Delhi for es we offer,” says Thakur.
be provided to the poor at prices a student exchange programme with Like most BPS, infrastructure
they can afford. By reviving India’s schools in Japan. Moreover in 2015, and facilities are modest. Sited on a
ancient tradition of peer-to-peer the US-based Ashoka Foundation 7,000 sq. ft campus area, the school’s

28 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2021