Photo for representation
Pune: Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will launch eight new Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)-affiliated schools from the 2027–28 academic year. The decision is expected to directly benefit around 17,000 students by introducing a national-level curriculum in English medium, according to PMC officials. The eight PMC schools where the central curriculum will be introduced are Bharat Ratna Dr A P J Abdul Kalam E-Learning School (Karvenagar), 62 B English School (Wanowrie), Late Ramchandra Appa Bankar English Secondary School (Hadapsar-Manjari), Late Babu Jagjivaram English Secondary School (old name: Krantiveer Lahuji Vastad Salve in Yerawada-Wadgaon Sheri), Late Vitthalrao Tupe English Secondary School (old name: 83 B in Hadapsar-Manjari), 102 G (Dhanori), 203 B (Vadgaon Budruk), and the New School (Kondhwa-Undri). PMC operates a network of primary schools, which includes 236 Marathi-medium schools, 54 English-medium schools, 31 Urdu-medium schools and two Kannada-medium schools. At present, there are 43 schools under the secondary and technical education department of PMC.
Civic school students often encounter difficulties while preparing for national entrance exams like JEE, NEET and NDA due to a lack of exposure to central academic boards, according to PMC officials. “Many meritorious students, who cannot get admitted to private CBSE schools due to financial constraints, can get a good platform via civic CBSE schools. Educationists and experts have welcomed the move, saying that students from financially weaker sections of society will benefit from the CBSE curriculum. A meeting of PMC and state govt officials was held recently to review preparations for the initiative. It covered key aspects such as teacher recruitment, academic policy and infrastructure development.