In the 81 schools affiliated under the Maharashtra International Education Board (MIEB), not a single school run under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has been listed. As per the civic body, applications of 25 schools were sent to the board, which was rejected immediately. According to sources close to the BMC education department, the affiliation and training fees demanded by the MIEB is the primary reason for rejection. "A letter was sent to the state education department asking to provide a waiver, but there was no response officially but only a verbal 'no' from that side hence the project was not taken forward," said the source. As per MIEB, a BMC school, in order to become a part of MIEB school will have to pay Rs 20,000 as affiliation fee (for three years), Rs 10,000 for annual quality maintenance audits or accreditation and Rs 25,000 per teacher for training every academic year. "We did send applications of around 25 schools, however, since they did not provide any kind of waiver on affiliation fees, the applications were rejected. Moreover, academic syllabus and curriculum too weren't provided to us," said a senior official at the civic education department. Adding to this, the difference in the syllabus is another roadblock for the BMC schools while getting its way to MIEB schools. MIEB, an autonomous board of the Maharashtra government, that was set up in the year 2018, has a curriculum that is innovative, application-based which will be followed in the lines of international curricula. Meanwhile, students in the BMC schools are following the syllabus and curriculum created by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE). "Since we (BMC schools) are providing free education to the students, and being part of the government, how can they charge us such a huge amount? If we get proper curriculum and waiver by next year, we can think about it with proper planning," said Sainath Durge, member of BMC education committee. "There is a wide difference between both the curriculum, so if it is not done properly, the students would be the one who shall suffer from such hasty decisions by the authorities," said Rekha Krishnan, a senior teacher who is involved in rural areas. MIEB ELIGIBILITY

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