Mahadevi Birla to switch from all-girls to co-ed school

A makeover is in store for the 53-year-old Mahadevi Birla Girls' Higher Secondary School, a premier school in the city. Come September the school is set to switch from being a girls-only institution to co-educational, the uniform and logo will be altered, and the name of the school changed to Mahadevi Birla World Academy which will issue international school leaving certificates to its students.

A school authority confirmed the changes, saying, “The school is enhancing its image in the global perspective. We no longer want to limit ourselves to being a girl’s school, and will accommodate boys as well. Hence, the name of the school will be changed. All the changes will be effective from September 1, this year.”

However, boys will not be allowed to take admission in any of the current classes. To begin with, boys over four-years of age will be admitted to the upper infant classes along with girls. As this first batch graduates, more boys can gain admission to the successive classes.

“Our upper infant admission for the academic session 2013-14 starts in September and lasts till October 15. Since this is the first time we are admitting boys we will advertise it in the newspapers,” said the school authority, adding, “We have not fixed the girl to boy ratio. Our upper infant class has six sections and we will be admitted 35 students in each section.”

The school plans to inform parents of the change by sending them a letter through the children. “We know that some parents would not be happy about the change as they send their kids here because it’s exclusively for girls. I guess they will have to adapt to the change or move their children out. We feel that co-ed schools help children overcome undue curiosity about the opposite sex and, hence, the change will be good for them,” said the school authority.

The school is also opting to offer the International Baccalaureate or Cambridge curriculum, side by side with the CBSE, in the coming years. “We would need a year to settle the change of name of the school and the crossover to co-ed. After that we will work towards offering the students with a choice to pursue an international school leaving degree or CBSE,” said the school authority.

School authorities also plan to erect hoardings across the city, announcing the changes.

At present the school has an all-female faculty, barring coaches for various sports.

The school has 3,400 students and 180 teachers, with veteran industrialist Basant Kumar Birla acting as chairman of the school.