Mahindra International School in Pune's Hinjewadi: IB programmes, 2026-27 fees and admissions

Mahindra International School is located in Hinjewadi, Pune. Parents should not choose a school merely because "international" is in its name. They should check which curriculum it actually teaches, how children are assessed, how much independence is expected of them, what support exists for children with different needs, how big the school is, and what the path to senior secondary and university will look like.

The school began in 1998 as Mercedes-Benz International School. After a change in its governing structure, it was renamed Mahindra International School in 2019. It is a private, co-educational, not-for-profit school. According to the school's own website, it has about 380 students, including children from more than 30 countries, and its teaching faculty comes from 16 countries. The campus covers about four acres.

The school says it was the first in India to be approved to offer the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP). It later became the first in India to offer both the PYP and the Middle Years Programme (MYP), and became an IB World School in 2006 when the Diploma Programme (DP) began. It now has the PYP, MYP and DP, so the IB pathway runs from start to finish.

Learning in the PYP rests on asking questions and exploring. According to the school's primary handbook, children learn English while home languages are respected. Hindi, French and English are offered at different levels according to the child's needs and preference. Parents should look at inquiry units, portfolios, project work, classroom discussion and presentations.

The MYP has eight subjects: Language and Literature, Language Acquisition, Individuals and Societies, Sciences, Mathematics, The Arts, Design, and Physical and Health Education. Assessment here is criterion-referenced, meaning a child is judged against set criteria and not ranked against classmates. This differs considerably from the percentage system most Indian parents are used to, so parents should ask how they will be told of their child's progress.

The two-year Diploma Programme has six subject groups along with three core components: Creativity, Activity, Service, Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay. Parents can ask which subjects are on offer for the current batch, how many students take each, and what Higher Level and Standard Level options exist.

Being a small school means the experience will differ from that of a large campus. Parents should ask how many students are in a class, how many sections each grade has, how long teachers stay, and how many extracurricular choices a small school can offer.

Student support is described as a strong point of the school. It has a College Counsellor, primary and secondary school counsellors, learning support and a Head of Student Support Services. According to the school, its specialists work with families and outside professionals, including paediatricians, psychologists, neurologists, occupational and speech therapists, and psychiatrists. It has a formal child safeguarding policy, and background checks and police clearance are taken in recruitment.

The campus has two libraries, visual arts and music studios, design workshops, a swimming pool, sports facilities, outdoor areas, a medical centre, a canteen and the school's own transport buses. The medical centre has one doctor and two nurses. A separate curriculum for AI or robotics and a structured financial literacy programme could not be firmly confirmed for now, so these must be checked directly with the school.

The school has published its fees for 2026-27. Annual tuition for children with a parent holding an Indian passport is Rs 4.67 lakh in EY1, Rs 8.65 lakh in EY2 and EY3, Rs 11.30 lakh in Primary P1 to P5, Rs 11.96 lakh in MYP 1 to 4, Rs 12.62 lakh in MYP 5, Rs 18.51 lakh in DP1 and Rs 19.77 lakh in DP2. The application fee is Rs 5,000. The admission fee is Rs 2 lakh per application from P1 to DP2, while in Early Years Rs 50,000 is payable initially and the balance is due when the child moves into Primary 1.

A sibling discount is available: 10 per cent for the first sibling and an additional 20 per cent for the second. Transport costs Rs 66,000 a year within 15 km and Rs 99,000 a year beyond 15 km. Some items, such as competitive sports, Model United Nations and international trips, may cost extra. The school has said admissions for AY 2026-27 begin on November 1, 2026.