Public schools in India woo British Asian pupils

By Amit Roy

India's top public schools are urging British Asian parents to send them their children if they cannot afford the £20,000 boarding fees in Britain or are not satisfied with local state schools.
One such leading establishment is the Scindia School in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, founded by the local royal family in 1897, whose current headmaster, Nirmal Kumar Tewari, assured prospective parents in Britain: "If you send them here, we can guarantee a good education."
Mr Tewari, 48, who came to the school 26 years ago and now has 600 boys, aged 11 to 18, emphasised: "It's much cheaper here."
While boys from India pay 200,000 rupees a year, the fees for Indians from Britain doubled two years ago to 400,000 rupees a year. "That's still only about £5,000 a year."
He has a clutch of boys from abroad, including two from Britain, but he would like the latter number to grow. He says that with the rigorous academic education they receive, they would sail through their GCSEs and A-Levels, which they can sit at Scindia.
"I send more than 20 to 25 students every year on exchanges to countries outside India," said Mr Tewari, whose school has exchange schemes with, among others, Westminster, Ellesmere College, Woodbridge, Oswestry, Wellington and Eton.


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