The city’s edupreneurs have always been quick to embrace new pedagogies and education philosophies and promote preschool to higher ed institutions for discerning parents who place a premium on high quality education
The southern port city of Chennai, currently witnessing an ugly power struggle between rival factions of the ruling AIADMK party left rudderless after the death of film star-politician J. Jayalalithaa last December, has always enjoyed a reputation for hosting high-quality school and higher education institutions. The city’s educationists/eduprenuers have been quick to embrace new pedagogies and education philosophies and promote preschool to higher education institutions for discerning parents who place a premium on high-quality education.
Therefore, it’s unsurprising that the city hosts an estimated 800 early childhood care and education (ECCE) institutions offering a diverse choice of pedagogies from Montessori to Reggio Emilia. Of them 45 — 34 proprietary and 11 franchised — preschools are sufficiently well-known to be rated across ten parameters of preschool education excellence — competence of teachers, infrastructure, safety and hygiene, individual attention to students etc — by 567 parents and 82 teachers/principals interviewed by field researchers of the Delhi-based market research and opinion polls agency C fore.
Proprietary/owned
Chennai’s most admired proprietary preschools league table of 2017-18 has witnessed a major churn. Vruksha Montessori, Alwarpet, ranked #1 in 2014, #3 in 2015 and #2 in 2016, has regained its prime position as Chennai’s #1 proprietary preschool. The elevation of Vruksha Montessori has pushed the previously top-ranked SEED, Adyar to #2 while Indus Early Learning Centre, Besant Avenue has retained its #3 position. Yet, the most impressive leap forward in the Top 5 table is of The Learning Tree, Adyar, which has leapt from #10 in 2016 to #4 this year.
The reordering of seating at the Top 5 table has resulted in several preschools losing rank. Although KiwiLearners, Neelankarai, has retained its #5 rank, Sprouts Montessori, Mylapore has slipped to #6 (4), Vels International Preschool, Neelankarai to #7 (1) and Bamboola, Raja Annamalaipuram to #8 (6).
The most dramatic fall in public esteem has been of Vels International Preschool — ranked #1 in the franchised category last year as Vael’s Billabong High-Kangaroo Kids — which since its disaffiliation from Kangaroo Kids has gone solo and is classified as propreitary this year. The Top 10 also features three debutants — Magnet Minds VVM Preschool at #8, Formula Five Kids College, Thiruvottiyur and V Kids A Concept School, Mugappair (West) at #9. The Top 10 table is completed by Seed, Thiruvanmayur and Seed, Thoraipakkam, jointly ranked #10.
Jayashree Radhakrishnan, founder-principal of Vruksha Montessori (estb.2002), is pleased that 649-sample respondents of Chennai have restored the 15-year-old preschool to its #1 position and top-ranked it on the parameters of teacher competence, teacher welfare and development, value for money and special needs education. “This promotion has boosted the morale of our entire team. I am especially delighted with our top rank for teacher competence and development because at Vruksha, we give teachers full freedom to innovate and organise regular workshops to enable them to comprehend and implement the Montessori philosophy in letter and spirit. Also, every classroom in Vruksha includes two or three special needs children with a special education counsellor guiding them, which is why our top-rating under the parameter of special needs education is very satisfying,” says Radhakrishnan, an alumna of Madras University and Indian Montessori Centre, Chennai, who co-promoted Vruksha in 2002. Currently, this pre-primary has an enrolment of 200 children instructed by 25 teachers (tuition fees: Rs.50,000 per year).
However, the sense of pride and achievement is greater within the newly promoted (2017) Magnet Minds VVM Preschool, Anna Nagar, which has made an impressive Top 10 table debut at #8. This preschool, which admitted its first batch of students earlier this year, is promoted by Abhirami Vivek, who also promoted the VVM-Little Millennium franchised preschool in 2009, ranked among Chennai’s Top 10 franchised preschools for six consecutive years (2010-2016). “We are proud that our proprietary Magnet Minds VVM is ranked among the Top 10 in its very first year of operations. We owe our success to the commitment and dedication of our teachers who give every child undivided attention, highly involved parents and innovative pedagogy based on Froebel’s educational principles which emphasise play as the primary way of learning. This award will help us speed up our plans to finalise a unique business model to enable qualified edupreneurs to run Magnet Minds preschools across India,” says Vivek, an alumna of Madras University and Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi and founder-director of Magnet Minds.
Further down, the city’s proprietary preschools league table of 2017-18 has undergone a major transformation. Among the gainers are Little Cubs, Alwarpet at #12 (21), SEED, Velachery at #13 (18) and Arise ‘n’ Shine, Anna Nagar at #15 (20). Those who have lost rank include Alphabet, Alwarpet at #11 (7 in 2016), Amelio Early Learning Centre, Shollinganallur at #15 (9), SEED, Anna Nagar at #16 (13) and VVM-Little Millennium, Anna Nagar at #24 (9).
Franchised preschools
With the previously #1 ranked Vael’s Billabong High-Kangaroo Kids, Neelankarai classified as a proprietary preschool this year, the title of Chennai’s #1 franchised preschool has new claimants. SEED, Saligramam and Podar Jumbo Kids (PJK), Thoraipakkam, ranked #4 and #3 respectively last year, have been jointly ranked #1 in 2017-18 by the 649 sample respondents polled by C fore in Chennai. While Seed, Saligramam is a franchise of the local Chennai-based Seed group of 33 owned and franchised schools promoted by the highly qualified Jaya Sastri, an ECCE alumna of the Trenton College, New Jersey (USA), PJK, Thoraipakkam is a franchise of the Mumbai-based Podar Jumbo Kids, a chain of 455 owned and franchised preschools countrywide.
Unsurprisingly, Sumitha Gopalakrishnan, principal of PJK, Thoraipakkam is “very happy” with the #1 rank awarded to this five-year-old preschool which has 70 students instructed by six teachers. “We owe our success to the late Jothi Senthil who gave this preschool an excellent start, and the child-centric and innovative curriculum designed by Dr. Swati Popat Vats, the visionary director of the Podar Jumbo Kids chain of preschools. Our top score for teacher competence and safety and hygiene is a result of our investing substantially in teacher training and providing excellent infrastructure which has gone a long way in assuring parents that their children are learning joyfully in a hygienic, safe and stimulating environment,” says Gopalakrishnan, a mathematics graduate of Madras University with an advanced diploma in Montessori and early childhood education from the Mother Theresa Montessori Institute, Chennai.
PJK has another of its preschools in the Top 5 with Podar Jumbo Kids, Perumbakkam improving its rank from #6 
in 2014 to #4 this year, while Seed has two more of its franchisees in the Top 5 — SEED, Kotturpuram, ranked #2 and SEED, Chrompet at #5. The Mumbai-based Kangaroo Kids (KK) has two franchisees in the Top 10 — KK-Velachery at #3 and KK, Anna Nagar at #9. Likewise, the Hyderabad-based TIME Kids has two of its franchisees in the Top 10 — Alwarpet at #7 and Velachery at #8 — both of which have improved upon their 2016 rankings. Kidzee, Anna Nagar has retained its #5 rank even as Maple Bear Canadian Preschool, Velachery has risen from #8 to #6 in 2017-18. The Top 10 league table of Chennai’s most admired franchised preschools is completed by debutant Kindernest, Anna Nagar, ranked #10.
Yet the most spectacular rise in this year’s franchised league table is that of Seed, Kotturpuram, which has leap-frogged from #12 in 2016 to #2 this year. “I am honoured by this public recognition which has enthused my entire team to work harder to achieve our goal of making early years schooling a truly joyful learning experience for our children. The age-appropriate child-centred curriculum provided by Seed, commitment of our teachers, healthy parent-teacher relationships, gadgets-free pedagogy, and continuous teacher training are factors which have contributed to our improved ranking this year. I am happy to report that 90 percent of our admissions come through alumni parent referrals, which indicates great parental satisfaction and trust in our ability to deliver joyful and stress-free early childhood education,” says S. Chitra, an alumna of Madras University and IGNOU who promoted Seed, Kottupuram in 2015.
To read the EW Chennai Preschool Rankings 2017 please visit: http://www.educationworld.in/rank-preschool/chennai/2017.html