In a first of its kind initiative, eleven BMC schools have become a part of a School leaders Partnership programme under which these schools would work closely with private schools to help solve each others problems.

The School Leaders Partnership programme is an initiative of the School Leaders Network (SLN) in association with the Education Development Trust/ CfBT UK. Under this initiative, 33 school leaders, including 22 private schools and 11 BMC schools would mentor each other and work together to make their schools better. Each group will have three schools, including two private and one BMC school that work work together as partners for the next one year to address one another's issues and better educational outcomes in the respective schools.

"We had done a pilot project with 19 private schools last year and the results were exceptional. This year, we wanted to go one step ahead and bring in BMC schools with private schools. We chose 11 BMC schools that can work with private schools to better themselves and also in turn help private schools in the same process. When two schools with such distinct backgrounds will come together, it would be the greatest integration of ideas" said Francis Joseph, co-founder of the School Leaders Network.

Over the next few months, paired schools will work towards each other's improvement priority which is linked to their leadership competencies and the teaching & learning process of their school. They continue working on many more areas as the programme is designed to accommodate flexibility, local context, engagement and empowerment. "The initiative is going to be extremely beneficial for BMC schools. Not only will the leaders learn from other private schools but teachers too would be motivated to do something different, adopt teaching methods used by those schools etc which would benefit students in the long run" said Ambersingh Magar, Principal of the Colaba Municipal school, which is paired with Campion school and St Annes School.

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School leaders of these schools would meet each other once every month. "Paired schools will have their own schedules and targets set.They would work on their own targets and try and achieve them" added Joseph.

Partner schools:

St Annes High School , Fort - Campion school, Fort -Colaba Municipal School, ColabaSt Mary SSC High school, Mazgaon- St Agnes High school, Byculla- Sandhurst road municipal schoolSt Joseph Convent, Bandra-Auxilium Convent High School, Bandra-Petit Municipal English U.P. School, BandraSt Joseph High school Wadala-Auxilium convent Wadala, Sahakar Nagar English Primary, WadalaPragnya Bodhini High School, Goregaon- St Thomas Academy, Goregaon- Goregaon BMC schoolUniversal High School, Ghatjopar, St Gregorious High school, Chembur-BMC school ChemburStanislaus High School, Bandra-MET Rishikul, Bandra-BMC Urdu school, BandraSt Elias High School, Khar-Sacred heart school, Santacruz-Manekji Gajdhar Municipal schoolSt Joseph High school, Kandivali-Camel of St Joseph, Malad- BMC School, CharkopSt Mary ICSE School, Mazgaon-St Isabel High School, Mazgaon- BMC school, BycullaSulochanadevi Singhania School,Thane- St Mary Convent,Mulund- PK Road Municipal school Mulund

It is a great initiative and would definitely encourage teachers from BMC schools to adapt with the changes that are taking place in schools these days. Our schools can also share some good teaching practices with private schools. - Snehalata Chavan, Administrative Officer, BMC

The initiative is a great step for integration of ideas amongst school leaders. By getting to know on each other's stregths and weaknesses, we can work together to make our schools better-Kavita Sanghvi, MET Rishikul, Bandra