Delhi�s top-ranked preschools

A bridesmaid for four years consecutively, this year Step by Step, Panchsheel has been elevated to the altar by a respondents sample base comprising 243 young parents and 106 principals/teachers

The four-year reign of The Magic Years (TMY, estb. 1976) as the undisputed #1 pre-primary in the national capital is over, although not quite. This year TMY is obliged to share the top spot in the EW Delhi Preschool Rankings 2014 with Step by Step, Panchsheel (SbS, estb.1992) the perpetual bridesmaid who has been elevated to the altar by the 243 young parents (with at least one child enroled in a pre-primary) and 106 principals and teachers who rated and ranked the city’s Top 20 unitary pre-primaries.

There are other surprises relating to seating arrangements at the elite Top 5 table this year. The Ardee School, Sujan Singh Park which was ranked #6 in 2013 has risen in the public esteem to clinch the second spot behind the joint winners. And while Little Pearls, Vasant Vihar has retained its #3 rank, The Learning Tree, Sujan Singh Park ranked #8 last year has stormed into the Top 5 table with a #4 ranking this year followed by Kangaroo Kids, GK I (#4 in 2013).

“It’s wonderful for the work we are doing to be appreciated and recognised as the best in the country. For this the credit must go to our teachers who have worked hard and consistently to translate the vision and goals of our founders into practice. The differentiating characteristic of this school is our commitment to respect the individuality of each child entrusted to us. Moreover as your parameter ratings indicate, SbS is a pace-setter and pioneer in providing contemporary ECCE to special needs children. We employ eight teachers including four highly qualified professionals to nurture special needs children, 90 percent of whom are mainstreamed under our inclusive education policy,” says Ramni Chopra, an alumna of Welham Girls, Dehradun and Panjab University who inter alia taught at the top-ranked Vasant Valley School, Delhi before being appointed principal of SbS in 1997.  Currently, SbS has 450 children and 58 teachers on its muster rolls.

Further down the league table, the major surprises are the previously unranked Petals School, Nirman Vihar and Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning, Vasant Kunj which have debuted in Delhi’s Top 10 table with excellent scores under the parameters of infrastructure and parental involvement. “It’s gratifying to learn that informed members of the public have ranked Petals School among the Top 10 preschools in Delhi. The #8 rank awarded to us for the first time shows that if schools are focused on adopting and applying best global practices, public appreciation and recognition will automatically follow. In this pre-primary we deliver an integrated curriculum combining best Montessori and project-based learning practices. We believe that if little children are provided a stimulating and enabling environment, they will learn automatically. Therefore we have provided perhaps the largest  600 sq. metres play area in Delhi for infants with a swimming pool and skating rink among other facilities, and natural learning of music and movement — very important for the physical development of children. Moreover, there’s heavy emphasis in Petals on children’s safety and cognitive development,” says Preeti Kwatra, a psychology and education postgrad of Delhi University and promoter-principal of Petals School (estb. 2003), which currently has an aggregate enrolment of 585 children aged two-four mentored by 52 teachers.

Another pre-primary debuting in this year’s Delhi league table is Amiown, Pushp Vihar (estb. 2005), the first pre-primary of the Amiown Amity Caring Preschools (AACP group) promoted by the heavyweight Amity education group, which includes two fully-fledged universities in India with campuses in eight countries around the world. AACP comprises six preschools/learning centres in Delhi NCR with an aggregate enrolment of 1,000 students nurtured by over 100 teachers comprehensively trained by the in-house Amity Centre for Educational Research & Training (ACERT). But although she appreciates the initiative of EducationWorld in focusing a strong spotlight on ECCE and compiling league tables of the country’s most admired preschools, Sapna Chauhan, vice chairperson of AACP, is unimpressed by the rating and ranking process which according to her “hasn’t done justice” to new genre pre-primaries and Amiown, Pushp Vihar in particular.

“The process of rating and ranking schools needs to be more scientific and facts-based. The downside of EW’s perceptions-based ranking methodology is that the league tables are dominated by older schools with which respondents are familiar. But it’s doubtful if they are implementing globally accepted best practices in ECCE. If one takes into account that all AACPs have excellent teachers thoroughly trained in contemporary child-centred practices in ACERT, that our well-researched curriculums are ECCE-appropriate and our teacher-pupil ratio is a mere 1:10, our pedagogies are globally benchmarked and our infrastructure and play areas are professionally designed for children in the 2-6 age group, Amiown, Pushp Vihar definitely merits a higher ranking. There is undoubtedly a flaw in your institutional assessment methodology,” says Chauhan, a graduate of the Wharton Business School who promoted AACP on her return to India in 2005.  

While Chauhan’s dissatisfaction with the EW-C fore’s preschools rating and ranking methodology is understandable and has some substance, the plain truth is that while the perceptions-based institutional assessment methodology is not perfect, it’s the least imperfect process available for this purpose, and is routinely employed by the world’s most respected rating and ranking agencies including the London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and Times Higher Education which publish their annual World University Rankings. While it’s desirable to conduct inspection-based ratings and rankings, the cost in terms of time and money is prohibitive. Moreover, in cases where information is solicited from institutions themselves, exaggerated claims are common.

In the circumstances, the perceptions of informed respondents is the most preferable option available to institution rating and ranking firms and agencies.

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