Gurgaon

In the inaugural EducationWorld league table of Gurgaon’s Top 10 preschools, a representative sample of 230 parents and teachers voted Pallavan, Sohna Road #1 in the new steel and glass city

Situated on the periphery of Delhi, the new steel and glass city of Gurgaon (pop.876,824) —   India headquarters of several multi-nationals including GE, Coca-Cola, Microsoft and IBM (250 of the Fortune 500 companies have planted their corporate flags here) — hosts a highly educated workforce with high awareness of the importance of professionally delivered early childhood care and education (ECCE). To meet the demand for ECCE from double income families in this rapidly growing city, a clutch of education entrepreneurs have promoted state-of-the-art preschools and nurseries offering globally benchmarked infra-structure and curriculums.

This is the rationale behind EducationWorld’s editors including Gurgaon in the EW India Preschool Rankings 2013. Consequently a repres-entative sample of 164 preschool parents and 66 teachers/principals were asked to rate Gurgaon’s Top 10 pre-primaries on ten parameters of ECCE viz, teacher competence, individualised attention, infrastructure, safety and hygiene, innovative teaching, leadership, parental involvement, special needs education, teacher welfare and development, and value for money. The ratings awarded to 25 preschools (pre-selected by EducationWorld) were aggregated to arrive at a total score for each institution on which basis the Top 10 preschools of Gurgaon have been ranked for the first time.

Against this backdrop, the informed respondents have ranked Pallavan, Sohna Road (PSR), promoted in 2001 by well-known educationist Arun Kapur, director of Vasant Valley School, Delhi under the aegis of the Usha Nath Kapoor Foundation, the new city’s #1 preschool. Rated #1 on the crucial parameters of teacher competence (given double weightage), infrastructure and teacher welfare and development, PSR has an aggregate enrollment of 100 students mentored by 16 teachers.

“It’s reassuring to learn that parents and academics in Gurgaon acknowledge and appreciate the excellent work Pallavan has been doing over the past decade. Our philosophy is rooted in enabling every child to realise her potential through individualised educ-ation plans. We recognise the different learning style, abilities and interests of each child, and have drawn up customised plans for every child,” says Renu Kaul, an alumna of Delhi and Toronto universities, former teacher at Vasant Valley and Springdales schools, and currently director of PSR (tuition fee: Rs.84,000 per annum). Apart from the Sohna Road preschool, Pallavan has promoted another pre-primary in Gurgaon (DLF Phase I) and one in Delhi (Mehrauli).

Running a close second in the inaugural EW Gurgaon Preschool Rankings 2013, is The Shri Ram Early Years (TSREY), Sector 48, Sohna Road. Promoted by the founders of the top-ranked The Shri Ram School (Delhi and Gurgaon), TSREY is rated #1 on the parameters of individualised attention and safety and hygiene. PSR and TSREY are followed by Anand Preschool, DLF Phase I (#3); iDiscoveri XSEED Preschool, Sector 46 (#4) and Pumpkin House, Sushant Lok (#5), which constitute the Top 5.

A franchisee of the Gurgaon-based XSEED Education, which offers its XSEED curriculum to 1,000 K-12 schools and has promoted four  preschools countrywide, iDiscoveri XSEED, Sector 46 (IDX-46) is rated #1 on the parameters of parental involve-ment and special needs education. “Our excellent ranking is due to our team of mentors and support staff who are the drivers of the school. They’ve helped create a fun-loving environment where children are happy and eager to learn. Our top rating on the parameter of parental involvement is specially satisfying because that’s our USP — we are always open to new ideas from parents and their constant feedback helps us improve continuously,” says Shalini Gauba, founder-principal of IDX-46 (estb. 2007), sited in a spacious three-storied building with two open play areas, a vermicompost pit, bike path and kitchen garden (tuition fee: Rs.70,000 per annum).

Further down the Gurgaon preschools league table is Medhaam Preschool, South City-I (promoted by the Delhi-based PNR Group) ranked #6, Modern Montessori International, DLF Phase I (a joint venture of the Jaipuria Group and the London-based Modern Montessori International Group) and BloomZ, Sector 51 (promoted by the Manav Rachna International group of schools), jointly ranked #7.

The Top 10 Gurgaon league table is completed by ibambini Preschool, Sector 56 (#8), Pathways Early Years, Sector 49 (#9) and KLAY, Sector 49 (#10).

To read Gurgaon's best preschools league table visit http://www.educationworld.in/rank-preschool/gurgaon/2013.html