An IT and IT-enabled services hotspot with a population of highly-educated and skilled professionals and the highest per capita income of Delhi NCR, Noida is experiencing spiralling demand for high-quality preschool to tertiary education
Established in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh during the controversial Emergency period (1975-1977) by the Congress party’s stormy petrel the late Sanjay Gandhi under the UP Industrial Area Development Act, Noida (New Okhla Industrial Development Authority) has recorded growth momentum out of all proportion to its lawless and backward parent state. Its proximity to Delhi and inclusion in the National Capital Region (together with Gurgaon and Ghaziabad) has helped Noida to transform into a hotspot of IT and IT-enabled services hosting the offices of Wipro Technologies, TCS, HCL Technologies, IBM, Dell, Accenture among other corporate heavyweights.
Unsurprisingly, the city (pop. 637,272) attracts highly-educated and skilled professionals and boasts the highest per capita income (Rs.85,519) of the NCR region. Inevitably, industrial growth and urbanisation has led to spiralling demand for high-quality education across the spectrum from preschool to higher education.
To construct the EW Noida Preschool Rankings 2016 league table, an informed respondents sample comprising 518 parents of preschool children and 59 principals/teachers were interviewed by field personnel of Delhi-based market research firm C fore in this fast-track town.
PROPRIETARY PRESCHOOLS
Ranked #1 since 2013, the Windows Playgroup & Nursery School, Sector 50 has had to cede top rank this year to the Gaia Play School, Sector 93, ranked second for the past three years. Sited on a one-acre green campus with an ornamental pond, Gaia (estb.2008) is also ranked #1 on the parameters of individual attention to students, leadership quality and innovative teaching.
“Somewhat belatedly, our philosophy of engaging youngest children with nature in an eco-friendly learning environment is finally being appreciated. Gaia’s #1 ranking on innovative teaching and individual attention to students is not surprising because our teachers are given full freedom to innovate and provide individual attention to every child. Here children learn through theatre, music, role-play, pottery, story-telling and outdoor play to develop early communication and social skills. The outcome is that our children are readily admitted into top K-12 schools of Delhi NCR,” says Aditi Jain Anil, a political science postgraduate of Dehradun University and founder chairperson of Gaia which has 90 students and ten teachers on its muster rolls.
Following Gaia in the 11-strong league table of Noida’s most admired proprietary pre-primaries is the previously top-ranked Windows Playgroup and Amiown, Sector 44, jointly ranked #2. Meanwhile, the Khaitan Preschool, Sector 40, ranked #8 in 2015, has rocketed to #3 while Stimulus Preschool, Sector 39 (4), Gennext, Sector 62 (5) and Little Pearls, Sector 29 (6) are grouped at the high end of top table.
Nandini Malik, headmistress of the Khaitan Preschool, Sector 40 (estb.2013) which has an enrolment of 155 students, believes this recognition was “long overdue”. “EW’s past surveys had under-estimated us. Since inception, we have been delivering holistic early childhood care and education with strong focus on experiential learning for small batches of pupils — our teacher-student ratio is 1:8 — with high parental involvement. Moreover, our meticulously designed curriculum enables children to explore, think, experience and learn at their own pace. We are happy our efforts have finally been acknowledged by EducationWorld,” says Malik, a biology and education alumna of Delhi and Ambala universities who acquired two decades of teaching experience in the Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan, prior to signing up with Khaitan Preschool in 2008.
Four previously unranked preschools have debuted in this year’s proprietary preschools league table — White Canvas Preschool, NS 53 (#7), The Smiling Stars, Sector 92 (8), ASPAM Preschool, Sector 55 (9) and Rayz International Preschool, Sector 19 (10).
FRANCHISED PRESCHOOLS
The 577 sample respondents interviewed by C fore in Noida have reconfirmed Kangaroo Kids, Sector 34 and EuroKids, Sector 93 as the city’s top two preschools in the franchised category. However further down the league table of seven franchised pre-primaries, they have promoted Maple Bear Canadian Preschool, Sector 48, from #5 in 2015 to #3 this year, and another Maple Bear pre-primary sited in Sector 62, from #7 to #5. The promotion of these two preschools has pushed Little Millennium, Sector 45 to #4 (3 in 2015), Kidzee, Sector 62 to #6 (4) and Kidzee, Sector 27 to #7 (6).
Sharmila Chatterjee, principal of Kangaroo Kids, Sector 34 (estb.2004), a franchisee of the Mumbai-based Kangaroo Kids Education network of 100 preschools nationwide, is very pleased her pre-primary is ranked #1 on all ten parameters of ECCE excellence. “We are delighted our hard work is being appreciated in Noida. I credit this to the pioneering pedagogy and curriculum given to us by our franchisor Kangaroo Kids Education, Mumbai. Though I am happy about our overall excellent performance, the #1 rank awarded to us on the parameter of special needs education is especially welcome. Our teachers work closely with special educators, speech and language therapists and counselors to support learners with special needs,” says Chatterjee, an alumna of Delhi University and IIM-Ahmedabad. 
Similarly, Ashima Sachdeva, an engineering graduate of the Central Institute of Management and Technology, Faridabad, who quit a corporate career to sign up as a franchisee of Maple Bear India in 2013, feels rewarded that Maple Bear Canadian Preschool, Sector 48 has been voted Noida’s #3 franchised pre-primary. “I am thrilled with our improved ranking which I attribute to our willingness to embrace new ideas and to constantly improve on the basis of feedback from parents and teachers. Parental involvement is crucial to the success of any ECCE programme, and I am happy that we are blessed with a highly involved and supportive parents community,” says Sachdeva. Currently, this pre-primary has 150 pupils mentored by 30 teachers.
To read the EW Noida Preschool Rankings 2016 please visit: http://www.educationworld.in/rank-preschool/noida/2016.html