Dubai's new Indian school to offer "hybrid curriculum"

The Global Indian International School, which opens this month, will offer the CBSE curriculum with the option of studying the British curriculum or IBDP in the senior years.

In its first year, the CBSE school will offer classes from pre-KG to KG 2, with Grades 1 to 6 due to open in April 2018 when the new academic year begins for Indian schools, Kamal Gupta, chief operating officer of Singapore-based Global Schools Foundation told Education Journal Middle East.

In addition to the CBSE curriculum, GIIS Dubai will also offer the IB Diploma Programme stream for students in Grade 11-12, making it the first CBSE school in the UAE to offer the IBDP.

There are also plans to offer a choice between the CBSE curriculum or the British curriculum from Grades 8-10, subject to KHDA approval after an inspection in 2018.

Students who opt for the British curriculum stream in Grade 8 will sit the IGCSE O Levels in Grade 10 (Year 11), before taking the IBDP in Grades 11 and 12. The school will not offer an option for A Levels.

Students can also choose to study the CBSE curriculum until Grade 10 and move to the IBDP for the final two years after taking a "crash course" to prepare for the IBDP stream. However, students who plan to choose the IBDP are encouraged to enrol in the British curriculum stream from Grade 8 onwards.

"We usually tell parents that if they're serious about the IBDP, then they should move their kids to the IGCSE curriculum in Grade 8 itself, because the three years provide a good bridge programme between the CBSE curriculum and the IBDP. Compared to CBSE, the IBDP is far more multi-faceted and holistic," Gupta said.

Students can also choose to study only the CBSE curriculum from KG1 to Grade 12.

GIIS Dubai's sister school in Singapore also follows the same hybrid curriculum programme with successful results, with the school reporting two perfect scores of 45 in the most recent IBDP results, according to Gupta.

Fees at GIIS Dubai will range from AED 22,353 in KG1 to AED 38,824 in Grade 12. Fees for the IBDP will be AED 50,588 each year (Grades 11 and 12). The school is also offering a 15% discount in year one (2018/19), a 10% discount in year two, and a 5% discount in year three. More information and the full schedule of fees can be found here.

GIIS also operates a sister school in Abu Dhabi, which currently only offers the CBSE curriculum. However, the group is actively "looking at two opportunities very seriously" to open a second Abu Dhabi school, which will offer the hybrid curriculum, Gupta said.

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