New Delhi: A newspaper advertisement about a “mega gathering” of India’s “premier boarding schools” in Delhi got attention for all the wrong reasons Saturday, after German Ambassador to India and Bhutan Philipp Ackermann pointed out a massive blunder.
Posting on social media platform X, he pointed out that the photograph featured prominently in the ad was not of any Indian boarding school, but of an 18th-century neoclassical palace that’s currently home to the German president.
The advertisement for the 1-2 October event, titled ‘The mega gathering of India’s Leading Boarding schools right here in Delhi’, prominently featured Bellevue Palace, the official residence of the German president. The white neoclassical building with its sprawling lawns and German and European Union flags — both of which are visible in the advertisement — stands on the banks of the river Spree.
Along with a picture of the ad, Ackermann wrote in a post on X: “Dear Indian parents – I found this in today’s newspaper. But this building is no boarding school! It is the seat of the German President in Berlin. Our Rashtrapati Bhavan as it were,” adding cheekily that “no child will be admitted” there.
Dear Indian parents – I found this in today’s newspaper. But this building is no boarding school! It is the seat of the German President in Berlin. Our Rashtrapati Bhavan as it were. There are good boarding schools also in Germany – but here, no child will be admitted 😎. pic.twitter.com/ftbEeJk724
— Dr Philipp Ackermann (@AmbAckermann) September 30, 2023
Significantly, the 20th edition of the ‘Premier Schools Exhibition’ in the national capital will have 30 schools participating, including Unison World School, Dehradun; Harrow International School, Bengaluru; Kings College India, Rohtak, Shrewsbury International School India, Manchester Global School, Hyderabad and GD Goenka Signature School, Gurugram, according to the ad.
The event, according to the event website, is a “one-stop schools show” that will allow parents to find boarding schools for their children.
“This event brings together the finest schools, allowing them to showcase their exceptional curriculum, dispel common misconceptions, and provide valuable information on the admission process to parents seeking admission for their children,” the website says.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: ‘EWS is still EWS’— a tale of 2 siblings in Delhi’s elite private schools, only one thrived