Nehru Smaraka Vidya Kendra which is known for the Bangalore International Academy is one of the most popular educational institution in the city and was started on 12th February 1966. It was started at the time when Jayanagar, a fast developing extension, was badly in need of excellent educational facility. It began with a humble strength of 10 children and since then it has been expanding. NSVK expanded into a multi-faceted centre of learning and started Holy Mother English Nursery and Primary School in the Year 1977. To add up to its feather, a CBSE wing was started in the year academic year 2003-04. Keeping in mind the multi-lingual professional and cosmopolitan structure of the city and also to create globalised education to inculcate qualities of integrity, honesty, trust, tolerance, compassion and to build bright career to our children, D. Muniraju, Chairman, BIA has been able to establish excellent academic tradition that are conducive to the development of children into useful and competent citizens. He speaks to Vyas Sivanand about the school and its centers of excellence.
What according to you are main features of BIA which makes it stand out from the rest?
We see the immensity of creating excellence among the youth of the nation and to provide hi-tech resources to achieve the objective of excellence in education. So we seek to lay a foundation of true education, comprising of values besides scholastic excellence, which can be developed upon through every experience of life. In this venture of ours, we bring a striking balance of contemporary practices within the respected conventions of education, which we are confident would equip our students with clarity for making intelligent choices of career. While we make good and full use of technological amenities at our disposal, we remain committed to maintaining an environment which encourages learning through direct experience and interaction.
Our mission is to create globalised, exposed new generation by providing value based education and empower with education, based upon learning by doing strategy. BIA provides an ambient atmosphere where intellectual, social, emotional, physical, spiritual and aesthetic development of the students is fostered to enhance their quality of life. BIA is today recognised for its elite location, professionally designed infrastructure, high academic standards (100% Results), hi-tech and globalised education in collaboration several partners. These include Base - IIT/ Medical / CET / NTSE preparation, X-seed - Planned and effective teaching, Educomp - Interactive Teaching, Edusports - Emphasise on Physical Fitness, Manipal - Online information about child's performance, attendance, home work, school circular, informative SMS systems, NIIT - High standard certified IT Curriculum, and Math Lab - Abacus programme. We also have a state-of-the-art indoor stadium for sports with gymnasium apart from a temperature controlled swimming pool.
What is the syllabus followed at BIA?
We offer CBSE from 1st to 12th, ICSE from 1st to 5th, which we started this year and state syllabus from 1st to 10th class. We also have LKG and UKG. At Padmanabhanagar, we have another school, Bangalore International Public School (BIPS), where we offer education from nursery to 10th standard. The syllabus followed here is ICSE and the state syllabus. We also have two aided schools where education is imparted from 8th to 10th standard.
How many students are currently enrolled in BIA?
We have a total of 1200 students in BIA and 1835 students in BIPS.
Are you looking at more schools in Karnataka?
We have our land bank on Mysore road where, on 20 acres, we are planning to come up with a residential school, next year. We are also looking at going for the franchise model in Bangalore. The future plan will be to go across using the model.
Different schools have different methods of imparting education. What is the mantra of BIA in terms of offering education?
We have three centers of excellence in our school. The first is curriculum maker where we follow the board prescribed curriculum along with current situation oriented curriculum. The second is life maker wherein we target social skills, emotional development, etc. involving students, teachers and parents. The third is star maker, which is unique as we identify the hidden talent in each student and give them suitable platforms. So all put together, we are emphasising on overall development.