India's CBSE education system spreading wings in Vietnam

India's Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) educational system is making quiet inroads into Vietnam, thanks to the efforts of the Indian diaspora.

The all-India education system is being popularised in a small way in this Southeast Asian nation by Navneet Kalia, founder and chairperson of Ismart Education. Kalia, who has been living in Vietnam for the past 15 years. He has introduced the CBSE teaching method in three subjects - Math, Science and English - in junior classes across 25 schools in major cities in Vietnam.

"The CBSE method helps fulfil the needs of the Vietnamese students in English, Math and Science. We are focussing only on the grades one, two and three at present, and plan to extend it to senior schools," Kalia told visiting IANS correspondent.

According to Kalia, who launched his Ismart Education Foundation three years ago, the CBSE teaching method has caught on, winning more schools every year.

"Around 1,500 Vietnamese students in grades 1, 2 and 3, in the 25 schools are being taught the three subjects," Kalia said.

In India, CBSE has 12 million students under it across 12,504 schools, including 1,002 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 1,944 government schools, 8,966 independent schools, 562 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas.

Ismart holds special training sessions for Vietnamese teachers on the CBSE method of teaching English, Math and Science, said Kalia.

He has now approached India's Human Resource Development ministry to ask if they can formulate a "partial curriculum" based on the three subjects for countries keen to absorb the Indian education system.

The 25 schools are located in capital Hanoi, in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam's largest city, Nha Trang, a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the south central coast of Vietnam, and other cities, he said.

Kalia's future plan is to take the CBSE system till grade 12 in Vietnam and later take it beyond this country.

"I have seen how the CBSE method is popular in Vietnam. We plan to take it across all schools in the country, and soon take it to other countries in the neighbourhood, and even beyond. The CBSE method is as good as the best educational system in the world, so it is good if we can spread it," said Kalia.

Kalia, who is married to a Vietnamese and has two daughters aged 10 and seven, was here as part of the gathering of India diaspora who had come to interact with visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Sushma Swaraj arrived here Sunday on a three-day visit. There are over 2,000 Indians in Vietnam.

(Ranjana Narayan can be contacted at ranjana.n@ians.in)