A classic study of how investment prompts urban growth and employment, the new steel and glass township of Gurgaon has attracted a large population of business and engineering professionals who value high-quality pre-primary education
Although technically in Haryana, the new steel and glass township of Gurgaon (pop.900,000) is widely regarded as a satellite city of the national capital and popularly included in Delhi NCR (national capital region). After India’s #1 automobile company Maruti Suzuki established its first motor car manufacturing unit in Gurgaon in 1981, the city has attracted industry in a big way and has also transformed into a hub of India’s IT industry with over 250 Fortune 500 companies having established subsidiaries and affiliates. A classic study of how industrial development and foreign investment prompts urban growth and employment, the new city has attracted a large population of well-educated and well-travelled business and engineering professionals who value high quality pre-primary and K-12 education. Consequently it hosts some of India’s top-ranked new genre international schools including Pathways World School, G.D. Goenka World School, and Lancers International, among others.
Owned/proprietary preschools
“It’s an indicator of the high quality of pre-primary education in the two Pallavan preschools that the new classification hasn’t affected our ranking. But I don’t agree with the inclusion of preschools operating as part of K-12 schools in the survey as I feel they do not add to early childhood education and are essentially feeder schools. Preschooling demands a very different pedagogy and requires a different level of commitment and passion from teachers,” says Renu Kaul, an alumna of Delhi and Toronto universities with hands-on teaching experience acquired in Vasant Valley and Springdales prior to being appointed director of the two Pallavan schools in Sohna Road and DLF Phase I — promoted by Arun Kapur, well-known educationist and director of Delhi’s highly ranked Vasant Valley School, in 2001.
“Nevertheless it’s rewarding that we have been ranked #1 across all the 10 parameters of preschool excellence with wide margins in teacher competence and teacher welfare and development — our focus areas,” says Kaul. Currently Pallavan Sohna Rd (estb.2001) has 120 children mentored by 15 teachers on its muster rolls.
Likewise Shalini Gauba, a math grad of Delhi University and founder-principal of the iDiscoveri XSEED Preschool, Sector 46 (estb.2007) is less than enthused by the new taxonomy adopted by your editors despite the iDi Preschool having improved its ranking from #5 in 2014 to #2 this year. “It would have been better for EducationWorld to have made an across-the-board ranking first, and then separately for different categories of preschools,” she says.
However, Gauba is encouraged by iDi Preschool’s improved ranking which has given its teachers “a feeling of achievement and recognition for good work”. “As indicated by our high ranking under the parameters of competence of teachers and teacher welfare and development, I believe our dedicated and committed teachers have made this possible. Our children are routinely admitted into top-ranked primary-secondaries such as Heritage, the Shiv Nadar, The Sri Ram and Scottish High schools. This validates the high rank awarded to us,” says Gauba.
Franchised preschools
The new classification system adopted by EducationWorld which disaggregated pre-primaries into three mutually exclusive categories, has certainly benefitted franchised preschools in Gurgaon, none of whom were ranked in 2014. This year, eight sufficiently well-known franchised pre-primaries are ranked by 635 sample respondents of Gurgaon.
“I am very glad EducationWorld has rationalised its preschools ranking methodology this year. Proprietary, franchised and preschools attached to full schools have widely differing structures and should not be compared with each other. For instance, parents who enroll their children in preschools attached to full schools have expectations different from our parents. Therefore I am happy that we are rated and ranked against other franchised preschools rather than all preschools. That said I’m not surprised by our #1 ranking and high scores under the parameters of innovative teaching, competence of teachers, infrastructure provision and value for money. For all these reasons our children are welcomed into the best primary-secondaries in Delhi NCR,” says Bandana Sharma, a political science graduate of Delhi University with valued teaching and administrative experience in several schools including DPS Gurgaon, prior to being appointed centre head of the Maple Bear Early Learning Centre which has topped the Gurgaon franchised preschools league table this year.
Pre-primaries of K-12 schools
In the newly-introduced league tables, the rankings of pre-primaries of established primary-secondary schools of Gurgaon are congruent with the ranks awarded to their parent schools in the EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) published earlier this year (September). However, The Shri Ram Early Years, an affiliate of The Shri Ram School, Aravali, ranked #2 in the EWISR 2015 in Gurgaon, is rated and ranked a notch above the pre-primary of the top-rated The Heritage School by the 635 parents, principals and teachers who constituted the sample respondents database in Gurgaon. Moreover, the Amiown Preschool, Sector 27, the feeder pre-primary of the Amity International schools in Gurgaon, ranked #3, is ranked well above the Amity primary-secondaries in the city. 
Although ranked #1 in Gurgaon under the new taxonomy, Sunita Arora, principal of The Shri Ram Early Years (TSREY), is not enthused by this initiative. “In my opinion, ideally all preschools in a city should be compared without any kind of classification, as it provides better reflection of where every school stands against all others. From the parents’ perspective as well, it would make it easier for them to select a preschool for their children without bothering about whether it’s a proprietary, franchise or attached to a composite school. Although we are elated at being ranked #1, The Shri Ram Early Years is not the pre-primary section of The Shri Ram School (K-12 Gurgaon). In corporate terms, TSREY is owned by Shri Educare Pvt. Ltd, while The Shri Ram School is run by the Shri Ram Family Foundation. Therefore, the categorisation for TSREY as suggested in your rankings, is not appropriate. Besides The Shri Ram School, TSREY children get admission into all K-12 schools in Gurgaon,” says Arora, an alumna of Delhi University and former academic co-ordinator of The Shri Ram School, Aravali who was appointed principal of TSREY in 2014.
On the other hand, despite being ranked second, Nilam Sharma, head of The Heritage Junior School, is appreciative that pre-primaries of K-12 schools have been acknowledged by EducationWorld. “The commendable work done by teachers of the pre-primary and primary sections of bigger schools is completely ignored although they sow the seeds of creativity, language development, and prepare infants for entry into primary-secondary schools. Therefore I am happy that your new system recognises the contribution of pre-primary teachers to child development. Moreover, I am especially pleased that your respondents have rated us #1 for teacher welfare and infrastructure,” says Sharma.
Among the other pre-primaries which have debuted impressively in the inaugural league table of feeder preschools of larger schools are Shikshantar (#4), Lotus Valley tied at #5 with Suncity School, Pathways Early Years (#7) and Scottish High (#8).
To read Gurgaon's best preschools league table visi: