While the 24-strong EW league table of Chennai’s proprietary pre-primaries has experienced considerable churn, the 14-strong franchised preschools table has witnessed few changes from last year
Despite the destructive and unwarranted interference of Tamil Nadu’s film star politicians with the state’s once nationally admired education system which is now a shadow of what it was, private schools in this southern state (pop.78 million) have managed to keep their heads above water.
Currently, the state hosts the country’s top two fully residential international schools (according to the EW India School Rankings 2016), a Top 5 co-ed boarding school (Lawrence, Lovedale) and a dozen highly-reputed day schools. Arguably, the top-ranked pre-primaries of Chennai — the state’s administrative capital — are even better because privately-provided early childhood care and education (ECCE) has substantially been spared the inexpert attention of the state’s education ministry bureaucrats.
Owned/proprietary
The EW league table of Chennai’s proprietary schools has experienced a churn with the Seed School, Adyar (SSA) promoted in 2004 by the highly qualified Jaya Sastri, an ECCE alumna of the Trenton College, New Jersey (USA) who acquired valuable teaching experience in Headstart, USA, before promoting this preschool 12 years ago, rising steeply in the esteem of the city’s informed public to be catapulted from #8 in 2015 to #1 this year.
Top-ranked on the parameters of teacher welfare and development, individual attention to pupils, innovative teaching and safety and hygiene, SSA has topped the league table of the city’s most well-reputed pre-primaries. Vruksha Montessori, Alwarpet ranked #3 in 2015 and Indus Early Learning Centre, Besant Avenue (#1) are ranked second and third this year. 
“I’m thrilled that your sample respondents have ranked Seed, Adyar #1 this year. It’s overdue appreciation of our practice of carefully conceptualised early childhood education focused on putting smiles on the faces of children. Moreover, it’s wonderful that your informed respondents have ranked Seed #1 on four of the ten parameters of preschool education. But I’m particularly pleased about our #1 ranking on safety and hygiene which is our very first priority. Nevertheless, we also pride ourselves on individual attention to pupils, small class size, innovative curriculum and customised, child-centric lesson plans,” says Sastri. Currently SSA has 75 children mentored by six teachers on its muster rolls (tuition fees: Rs.30,000 per annum).
Smita Vishweshwar, promoter-principal of Sprouts Montessori, Mylapore, which has made a spectacular leap forward from #13 last year to #4 in 2016, is equally excited by the substantially higher rank awarded to this 13-year-old school which has an enrolment of 198 children (aged 1.5-10 years) mentored by 28 teachers. “I believe that the dedicated effort made by our teachers to fully understand and implement the early childhood education philosophy of Dr. Maria Montessori and the excellent support we have received form our parents community, is increasingly being appreciated in Chennai. These are the prime factors behind our improved ranking this year,” says Vishweswar, a humanities alumna of Calcutta University who completed her Montessori training from the Centre for Montessori Training, Chennai.
Further down the 2016 Chennai preschools league table, three new and previously unranked pre-primaries promoted by the top-ranked Seed School, Adyar have made impressive debuts in the 24-strong league table. While Seed Academy, Kottivakkam has lost some ground slipping from #5 in 2015 to #8, Seed Academy, Thoraipakkam has debuted at #11, Seed School, Thiruvanmiyur at 15, and Seed School, Velachery at #18. With a total of 39 preschools, Seed is emerging as a major preschools chain of owned and franchised pre-primaries in peninsular India.
Franchised preschools
Chennai’s 2016 franchised preschools league table has witnessed few changes from last year. The Top 3 rankings are unchanged from last year with Vael’s Billabong High Kangaroo Kids, Neelankarai, Kangaroo Kids, Velachery and Podar Jumbo Kids, Thoraipakkam retaining their first three ranks in that order.
However, the previously unranked Seed School, Saligramam (estb. 2004) has gate-crashed into the Top 10 table with an unexpected #4 ranking. And with yet another previously unranked Seed, Adyar franchisee — Seed School, Chrompet — crashing the Top 10 table, all of Chennai’s reputed franchised preschools have been pushed a rank or two below their 2015 ranking.
A franchised preschool of the Mumbai-based Kangaroo Kids/Billabong High chain of over 100 pre-primaries and K-12 schools, promoted by education entrepreneur Lina Ashar, Vael’s Billabong High Kangaroo Kids, Neelankarai (VBHKK) enjoys an enviable reputation in this port city. Even before the annual EducationWorld preschools league tables began to rank proprietary, franchised and pre-primaries of composite schools separately (the last category has been eliminated this year), VBHKK was ranked #1 in 2012 and #2 in 2013 and 2014. Therefore, after franchised schools began to be ranked separately in 2014, its top ranking became almost inevitable. 
“I am very pleased that VBHKK has retained its #1 rank of last year in this very competitive category. I attribute this to growing awareness within the parent and teachers’ communities of the stress-free experiential education we provide our pupils. And although we have been top-ranked on all ten parameters of preschool excellence, I am specially satisfied that we are ranked #1 on the parameter of individual attention to students,” says Rohini Vacher, centre head of VBHKK (estb. 2004). Currently, this preschool has 500 pupils mentored by 53 teachers (tuition fees: Rs.22,000-25,000 per annum).
Rekha Achutan Mahendra, an econometrics and design alumna of University College, London and the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad who ran her own media company named Filmz for over two decades before switching tracks to promote the Seed School, Saligramam under licence from Seed, Adyar in 2014, is exultant this preschool is ranked among Chennai’s Top 5 franchised pre-primaries. “I’m thrilled and delighted that our fledgling school has been given a high ranking in the league table of the highly respected EducationWorld within two years of our launch. This award is great encouragement and endorsement that we are on the right path. Our infrastructure has been built according to Seed, Adyar specifications and our teachers have received excellent curriculum and teacher training services from the head office. This explains our excellent start,” says Mahendra. Currently, this newly established preschool has 30 pupils and five teachers on its muster rolls (annual tuition fees: Rs.30,000-60,000).
Further down the 14-strong Chennai franchised schools league table, the entry of another previously unranked Seed franchise pre-primary into the Top 10 has pushed the rankings of all others down a notch or two.
To read the EW Chennai Preschool Rankings 2016 please visit: http://www.educationworld.in/rank-preschool/chennai/2016.html