The rags-to-riches cover story of Satya Narayanan R, who has grown Career Launcher from a one-room coaching centre into a full services education company in the short span of 18 years, is inspiring (EW October). His team must be congratulated for helping thousands of students prepare for competitive examinations, particularly CAT.
The company’s diversification into K-12 schools is also commendable. Schools propounding new pedagogies and ideas are in great demand with parents looking for holistic education delivery. I wish the company the best for the future.
Surendra Saxena
Delhi
Brilliant path-breaker
Thanks for a highly perceptive special report ‘India’s new genre sports educators’ (EW October). Brilliantly researched and presented — and possibly the first true look at this industry of sports outsourcing in schools.
Venkat Mandalam
EduSports, Bangalore
Post secondary focus need
I read your insightful special feature on outsourcing of sports education by private schools (EW October). It’s a great idea to infuse professionalism into traditional school sports programmes which currently comprise monotonous drills and mindless exercises. Contemporary research-based sports curric-ulums are the need of the hour if we are to create a fitter and healthier generation next.
However, I’m doubtful whether professional sports training in schools will eventually lead to India winning Olympic medals. Though interesting and fun-filled sports experiences will stimulate and attract children towards sports, the coaching and infrastructure required to train Olympic-level sports-persons is conspicuously lacking in India. Huge amounts of money and resources have to be invested in creating modern sports training facilities in post secondary education institutions to transform talented school-leavers into Olympics podium finishers.
Dhananjay Kumar
Chennai
Improper survey
I would like to contend the EW India School Rankings publi-shed in your September issue. I doubt if a proper survey was conducted at all.
My daughter secured admission in class V in La Martiniere Girls’ College, Lucknow from Loreto Convent where she studied till class IV. My son was a student of La Martiniere Boys, so I can safely compare these schools. The change for the positive in my daughter after she joined La Martiniere Girls’ was immense and I never regretted having pulled her out of her previous school. She is now a successful executive in the US. However your survey ranks Loreto Convent above La Martiniere Girls’ in Uttar Pradesh.
It would be highly appreciated if you could conduct a thorough survey before deciding to publish it in magazines which have a national readership. I do believe your magazine follows the principle of responsible journalism.
Dr. Shalini Chopra on e-mail
Centre Point omission
This is with reference to the September issue of EducationWorld which features the EW India School Rankings 2012. With specific reference to the Nagpur city rankings, we were shocked to see your list. Ours is a 25-year-old institution with three branches across Nagpur with an aggregate student enrolment of 9,500. It is undoubtedly the leading group of schools in the city, yet there is no mention of Centre Point Schools anywhere in the rankings.
If you did a real survey involving parents with school-going children in Nagpur, Centre Point Schools would figure at the top of the list in terms of infrastructure, board results and teaching methodology. These state-ments will also be supported by any local newspaper team (Times of India, Hitavada, Lokmat, Navbharat, etc).
I wonder what method you have used to determine these rankings and how such a lapse came about, as this was rather incomplete and inaccurate reporting on your part.
I am enclosing our school profile for your kind perusal. I enjoy reading your magazine and compliment you for giving a voice to educational institutions.
Arun Dev Upadhyaya
Director, Centre Point Group of Schools
Nagpur
Respondents across western India constituted the public for the survey. You need to raise Centre Point’s profile outside Nagpur — Editor
Survey methodology disapproval
Re your annual survey of schools published under the heading EducationWorld India School Rankings 2012 (EW September). I wish to draw your attention to a few points with regard to the ranking of our school, as reflected in the survey results published.
Small sample size. As claimed in your editorial, the respondents’ database for this year’s survey was 3,070. The results of your survey are based on the perceptional feedback of these respondents provided for 342 day schools, 62 boarding schools and 40 international schools — a total of 444 schools. This works out to just under seven respondents per school. I question your claim that the sample size is adequate justifying it in comparison with “opinion polls which forecast the outcomes of national and state elect-ions”. Political opinion polls reflect perceptions on the performance of a small number of political parties within constituencies and establishing trends based on their findings is relatively much easier. But conducting a national survey of 444 schools with a respon-dents base of this size is clearly inadequate.
Feedback from the school. Finally, I wish to comment on the oft repeated reference in your magazine that the school rankings are based on the “perceptions of parents, teachers, principals and educationists”. Which teachers, principals and educationists? In my three and half years of work as principal of this school, only once, in the year 2009, was a survey form sent to us which we filled and sent back. Since then, there has been no attempt whatsoever to obtain any factual feedback from the school. In such a scenario, I wonder how observations can be made about a boarding school with regard to its ‘competence of faculty’, ‘co-curricular education’, ‘infrastructure provision’, ‘internati-onalism’, ‘teacher welfare and develop-ment’, ‘special needs education’, ‘comm-unity service’ etc, without taking inputs from the school?
Leaving everything to public perception is the easy way out but not the best way. For example, how would anybody know what kind of staff welfare programmes we run? Or, about our infrastructure provision? Some data and information obtained from the school would make for a sounder basis for comparison and therefore, of objective analysis. Similarly, hard facts and concrete data on the school’s alumni would provide a better basis for related comparisons. My purpose in writing to you is to convey our disapproval of the ranking results, as the merits of our school have not been adequately reflected in your magazine’s annual survey.
In conclusion, I request you to consider further refining the mechanism and procedure of information gathering for your annual survey of schools in order to make a progressive shift from obtaining subjective perceptions of the general populace, to a more objective fact-based compilation of results which is closer to reality.
Payam Shogli
Principal, RiverDale International Residential School
Pune
Perplexing omission
I read the detailed survey analysis of your EW India School Rankings 2012 (EW September). It is indeed worth appreciating, but I wonder how schools are selected for classifying in different categories. I don’t deny the fact that the survey team must have a planning strategy for the rankings, especially when they are working for the magazine of national repute like yours.
We are perplexed why our school, known to be one of the best CBSE schools of Kolkata, was not ranked in the survey. Kindly let me know how our school can be included in the rankings.
Meena Kak
Principal, Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Kolkata
Please download and complete the India’s Most Respected Schools form on our website (www.educationworld online.net) and forward to us — Editor
Wonderful recognition
The all-India No. 1 ranking for special needs education accorded to us is recognition of the pioneering work we are doing in this field since 2004. Thank you for this wonderful recognition (EW September).
The EW India School Rankings 2012 awards ceremony in Delhi was also very well organised and extremely motivating. We are inspired to strive for more accolades and continuous improvement.
Seema Buch
Principal, Gundecha Education Academy, Mumbai
Baffling scores
After reading your cover story (EW September), I want to make the following observations about the ranking of Sai International School, Bhubaneswar, on various parameters.
Internationalism. The score awarded to Sai under this parameter lacks credibility. The survey team should visit Sai to understand the large number of international events organised by the school.
Co-curricular education. This is another area where the scores awarded baffle me. I think most people in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack will agree Sai International is the best (not DAV, Chandrasekharpur) in the state for co-curricular education.
Sports education. Similarly, sports education is another area where Sai scores over all schools in Odisha for facilities provided. Apart from traditional sports, the school also offers facilities for rock climbing, horse riding and army obstacles race.
Academic reputation. I fail to understand on what basis a particular school has scored above Mothers Public School and Sai International! Both these schools have topped the senior secondary exam 2011-12 in the science and commerce streams respectively. With regard to the career examinations, two students of Sai International were ranked second and 55th in this year’s All India CLAT Test. Sai International has also outdone DAV, Chandrasek-harpur, in terms of student performance in IIT-JEE this year.
As a parent, I would appreciate if the data can be rechecked for the sake of clarity.
Arabinda Das
Bhubaneswar
The EducationWorld India School Rankings 2012 is a perceptions — not facts-based — survey — Editor
Holistic education guidance
Thank you for featuring your exhaustive EW India School Rankings 2012. Your survey provides guidance and direction to schools and parents to boost their efforts in dispensing holistic education to students.
H.R. Hemal
The New Tulip International School
Ahmedabad
Books donation appeal
Currently I am a volunteer teacher at the Mahabodhi School in Diyun in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The school is in a very remote area, not easily accessible. This is a K-X CBSE-affiliated school with more than 400 students, most of them from poor families, tribal groups and marginalised communities. However, students’ enthusiasm to learn English is amazing.
Through EducationWorld, I appeal to the public to contribute books (fiction and non-fiction) as well as educational/educative audio-visual material (in English and/or Hindi) to these eager-to-read/learn children. Please send surplus text and other books (new or pre-owned) to Dilip Chakma, Principal, Mahabodhi School, Diyun Via Namsai, District Changlang, Arunachal Pradesh 792103. http://www.mahabodhi.info/mahabodhi_diyun_school.html.
Yoginder Sikand on e-mail