A specially selected sample of 208 parents and 55 principals and teachers in Delhi rated Magic Years first on the parameters of teacher quality, personal attention to students, safety and hygiene and play facilities
The glad tiding that the Magic Years Montessori House of Children, Vasant Vihar, has been adjudged the national capital’s most admired pre-school by a substantial margin with an aggregate score of 96 out of a maximum possible 110 — an aggregate higher than of any pre-school countrywide — in the inaugural EducationWorld-C fore Survey of India’s Most Preferred Pre-schools 2010, has been received with euphoria and acclamation by the management. A specially selected sample of 208 parents of pre-school-going children and 55 knowledgeable principals and teachers in Delhi rated Magic Years first on the parameters of teacher quality, leadership, personal attention to students, safety and hygiene and play facilities.
“I am glad to learn that a knowledgeable public has voted Magic Years the city’s No.1 pre-school. It’s a cause for celebration and great satisfaction to all our staff given the hard work and dedication they have put in to develop Magic Years. Fittingly we have been ranked first on the parameter of teacher competence,” says Shirley Madhavan Kutty, founder-principal of Magic Years (estb.1985) which currently has an aggregate enrolment of 210 children from 18 countries instructed by 28 Montessori trained teachers.
Madhavan Kutty’s evident satis-faction with the EW-C fore survey is understandable because together with co-promoter Rajni Mathur, starting in the year 1985 when pre-schools were known as play schools and operated in garden-sheds, backyards and one-room flats, over the past quarter century she has developed Magic Years (tuition fee: Rs.4,300 per month including meals) into the national capital’s pre-eminent pre-school with a waiting list of several years.
These tidings have also been enthusiastically received by the management and staff of the Roots to Wings, Pitampura pre-school affiliated with the Delhi-based ICT (information communication technologies) market leader Educomp Solutions Ltd. The school’s management is pleased that within two years of its promotion, RW, Pitampura is ranked among the national capital’s top dozen pre-schools and rated among the top five on the parameters of innovative teaching and special needs education. “It’s encour-aging that the EW-C fore survey has acknowledged the dedicated work of our teachers and staff. I attribute the high rating given to us for innovative teaching and special needs education to the excellent curriculum created by Educomp Solutions. The survey has also given us the confidence and motivation to raise the bar to improve our ranking next year,” says Charu Malhotra, chief learning officer and principal of RW, Pitampura (tuition fee: Rs.3,650 per month) which has an enrolment of 120 children mentored by 12 teachers.
Dr. Pankaj Walecha, consultant orthopaedician and surgeon at the Primus Hospital, Chanakyapuri whose son Kabir is enroled in RW, Pitampura, is all praise for its management. “The inputs from RW teachers have helped us to rear our child in the best possible way. They have not only helped my son become self confident, but have also helped us become better parents,” says Walecha in a ringing endorsement of this Educomp franchised pre-school (estb. 2007).
Nevertheless, perhaps because Delhi’s much-too-few professionally managed pre-schools have been stung by the Delhi high court for subjecting tiny tots and parents to admission interviews, a pall of fear and suspicion hangs over early childhood education institutions in the national capital. This was manifested by the abrupt cancel-lation of an in-progress interview with a parent by Ramani Chopra, principal of the second ranked Step by Step, Panchsheel who also forbade photography on the school’s premises.
Delhi's best pre-schools league table: userfiles/Delhi league table.pdf
Parameters of excellence: Delhi's Top Pre-schools: userfiles/Parameters tables.pdf