CBSE headmasters take management lessons

The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has on Monday started its week-long management development programme for principals of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools.

The programme is a joint initiative of the CBSE and IIM-A to teach principals how to manage their schools and bring out innovation and creativity among the students.

The programme, designed by the IIM-A faculty, is being organised for the fifth time in the past two years. With the response being encouraging every time, the IIM-A has decided to conduct the programme annually.

On the programme's costs, which are being borne by the CBSE, Bakul Dholakia, director of the IIM-A, said, "The charges will just to meet the institute's expenses and will not add anything to our corpus."

Dholakia added, "There is a lot of scope in the field of management of education, and more and more educational institutions will need these kind of programmes."

He said the participant principals in the current week's programme were simply 'great' and had demanded an increase in the intake.

About 36 principals came from various states to attend this week's programme. One of the principals from the south said, "It is interesting to come back to school. It is even more interesting to attend classes at a prestigious school like IIM-A. This programme will enhance our skills in managing innovation in our schools. It will also teach us how to manage change at our institutions. We expect to put all these lessons to practice once we are back to our schools."

Rajeev Sharma, a faculty member of the IIM-A and the course's coordinator, said, "With the CBSE school principals going back to their schools and sharing their experience with their opposite numbers at ICSE schools, scores of principals from various ICSE schools have started showing interest to take this course."

"In the rapidly changing world, many institutions of our society are passing through a challenging phase. It also seems true that often there are no definite or perfect answers for the issues being faced by the schools today in the country. This programme is an attempt to examine such issues and evolve strategies to address them."

The IIM-A had earned distinction of being the first business school to take classes for the ministers of any state government, when carried out a course for the ministers in the Narendra Modi government last year. It also took classes on interpersonal skills and managing government organisations for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers from Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

"We have arranged programmes for post-master generals for increasing departmental efficiencies, commissioners of customs and central excise on issues of economic reforms. Then we conducted a tailor-made course for hospital administrators, a six-week course for chief information officers of Andhra Pradesh government. Programmes for the principals of the colleges under the University of Delhi also have been conducted, " Dholakia said.

The premier business school is now also planning to conduct short-term programmes for the judiciary and journalists.

"With such vast experience in conducting management development programmes for various groups, we are looking to arrange such courses for people in various working groups in the time ahead," Dholakia added.