Singapore-based foundation to build 5 schools in India

Singapore, Nov 28: A leading global education foundation started by Non-Resident Indians in Singapore today said it was planning to extend its reach by setting up five more campuses in India in the next two years.

Global Schools Foundation (GSF), started in 2002, is planning to build another 5 schools in India to add to its list of already nine institutions operating in Singapore. "In the next two years, we plan to add another five campus in India.

We are looking at Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Bangalore," the Foundation's chief operating officer Kamal Gupta told PTI.

GSF will also introduce International Baccalaureate programme at its Indian schools within the same period, he added.

Though GSF's Global International Indian Schools (GIIS) are mostly for students from NRI families, the education brand, with India's Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum as lead programme, has attracted about 52 per cent of international students at its three campuses in Singapore and about 40 per cent Japanese at its Tokyo and Kofu schools. Gupta underlined GSF's strength in teaching English and Mathematics under CBSE among other programmes of international curriculum, saying CBSE's English and Mathematics were rated highly.

He also revealed the strategy of having schools built in collaboration with property developers in new housing and commercial estates in India which help manage capital investment in assets. Gupta cited the example of Godrej Group having built a school for GSF in its Ahmedabad estate.

Currently, the foundation is in the process of completing USD 100 million campus in Singapore by 2017, adding to three campuses built since it started classes under GIIS in 2012. It is the biggest expansion at GSF which operates 20 schools in India, South East Asia and Japan, besides adding a Dubai campus in September this year.

PTI