Third campus for Indian High School

DUBAI // One of the few Indian schools in the emirate to be rated "good" by education authorities broke ground yesterday on a third campus, in Dubai Silicon Oasis. The Indian High School will be able to accommodate 3,000 additional students from KG1 to Grade 8 when it opens its new facility in April 2011. It will offer the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education curriculum. Construction on the new campus is expected to cost Dh100 million (US$27m).

The two existing branches of the Indian High School have 10,000 students, and the waiting list is 4,000-long. Ashok Kumar, the chief executive of the not-for-profit school, said the expansion would offer more "quality, low-cost" schooling, which he said was in short supply in Dubai. Annual fees at the Indian High School are Dh3,500 for KG1 and climb to Dh5,500 for Grade 12. Dubai Modern High School, another Indian school rated "good" by the Government, charges Dh18,530 for KG1.

The new Indian High School campus will have a gymnasium, swimming pool and an amphitheatre. Abdulla al Karam, the director general of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, was present at the ground-breaking ceremony and welcomed the new school into the market, saying in a statement that the Indian High School "offers a good quality of education". Mr Kumar said the school was considering expanding further.

After learning of the shortage of school places in Indian schools in Abu Dhabi, Mr Kumar said the organisation would consider opening a school in the capital. With the new Indian school term just weeks away, thousands of children are without a guaranteed place. klewis@thenational.ae