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Congratulations for the comprehensive cover story ‘India’s most respected schools’ (EW August) ranking India’s top schools on the ‘respect quotient’. I truly enjoyed reading it.

Although we are not listed in your league tables, I believe that the Army Public School situated in the heart of Bangalore is of a comparable quality with the best. You are welcome to send your correspondent to check out this claim.

Manjula Raman
Principal, Army Public School
Bangalore

Your cover story ‘India’s most respected schools’ (EW August) is a pioneering effort that will go down as a masterpiece and trendsetter in the history of Indian education.

Such a comprehensive effort using 12 parameters to measure excellence is a novel feature.

My hearty congratulations to you and your team for this macro-exercise.

Thanks for initiating, commissioning and publishing the first league tables of India’s most respected schools (EW cover story August). It made very interesting and absorbing reading.

However you should brace yourself for a storm of protests from some well-known schools which have not figured at all in the rankings/ratings. There’s something not quite right about a survey of the country’s best schools which doesn’t include world class institutions such as Mayo College, Ajmer, St. Paul’s, Darjeeling and the Woodstock School, Mussoorie in the master table of 72 most respected schools. A major cause as you have acknowledged, is that your research agency IMRB has made this a lower middle class survey by pitching the average household income of respondents (Rs.16,255 per month) too low. People in this income bracket are unlikely to know or care about the high-end schools missing from the league tables.

But the fault is not entirely yours/IMRB’s. The truth is that (unlike the DPS management) the principals of most upscale schools don’t know the ABC of brand promotion. They seem to believe that because they have long waiting lists for admission, they don’t need to bother about brand building. But as the anonymous "golden handcuffed" Bangalore-based teacher of an international school quoted by you rightly points out, schools need to be well-known and widely respected to attract the best teachers as also public goodwill in case things go wrong. By setting up enclaves of privilege in remote areas without bothering about their public image, ‘public’ and ‘interna-tional’ schools are storing up trouble for themselves.

Your latest issue featuring the cover story titled ‘EW-IMRB survey of India’s most respected schools’ (EW August) looks great. I am impressed by the elaborate criteria you have devised to arrive at the final rankings of the country’s most popular schools. As an avid reader of several mainstream magazines and EW, I always felt that surveys ranking the best schools, colleges, professional institutions, B-schools etc should be ideally done by you and not politics-oriented periodicals like Outlook and India Today.

The survey has produced interesting results such as DPS, R.K Puram being ranked higher than the prestigious Doon School, Dehradun. This is really surprising considering the long-standing reputation of Doon School and its illustrious alumni. DPS is a fairly middle class school and we haven’t heard of any great scientist, sportsperson or national leader having passed out of this school.

I read your editorial ‘Lesson from America for Indian industry’ (EW July) with great appreciation. I hope at least a few of India’s multiplying tribe of billionaires and millionaires read this persuasive editorial.

This is perhaps the most propitious time for India to transform itself into a major world power. But for this to happen, India’s newly rich tycoons also need to do their bit by contributing to the cause of education following the example of their American counterparts.

In particular, they need to reach out and provide scholarships and fund labs and libraries in institutions of learning to help India’s youth force carve out respectable career paths. Sharing a part of their wealth will help rather than hinder the growth of their business empires.

Arun Dash on e-mail

Introduce sex education!

I read your education news item on Uttar Pradesh titled ‘Sex education furore’ (EW August). I strongly believe sex education should be part of the school curriculum. Attitudes are fast changing in Indian society, and young people want accurate information on sex and related subjects.

The campaigns on HIV/AIDS prevention on television and print media openly advocate the use of condoms to prevent AIDS. But I wonder if we would have launched such campaigns, if not for the high number of AIDS cases reported in India? There is nothing wrong in these campaigns or in introducing sex education in schools. Adolescents need guidance and expert advice on this subject. And if sex is not a taboo subject, there will be fewer sexual crimes committed against women.