India’s small minority of wholly residential co-ed international schools are on a par with the best primary-secondary education institutions globally, and prepare students for entry into the world’s top universities
The streak of conservatism or trend in favour of vintage institutions rooted in traditions and values, discernible in league tables across all ten categories into which India’s most reputed schools have been grouped for purposes of fair comparison and evaluation, is evident in the Top 10 table of the country’s most high-end international residential schools where annual tuition fees tend to exceed the median yearly remuneration of middle management executives in India Inc.
Affiliated with globally-reputed offshore examination boards such as the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO), Geneva, Advanced Placements (AP), USA and Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), UK, which prescribe stiff infrastructure, teacher qualifications and training and student development and assessment norms, India’s small minority of wholly residential co-ed international schools are on a par with the best primary-secondary institutions globally, and prepare students for entry into the world’s most respected undergraduate colleges and universities.
Therefore it’s not surprising that within this small community of residential international schools, the 8,263 respondents of the national survey conducted by the Delhi-based market research and opinion polls company C fore, have awarded the highest aggregate scores to the vintage Kodaikanal International School (KIS, estb.1901) and the even older Woodstock School, Mussoorie (estb.1852) — promoted by American missionaries — which have dominated the EW rankings in this category ab initio. Indeed it’s interesting to note that the Top 5 table seating order this year is exactly the same as in 2013 with the Mahindra United World College, Pune, and the Ootacamund (aka Ooty)-based Hebron School (estb.1899) and Good Shepherd International (1977) ranked in that order this year as well.
The most noteworthy developments within this tiny fraternity is the debut (#6) of the hitherto unranked Fravashi International Academy, Nashik, Maharashtra (estb. 2006) — a new K-12 CIE-affiliated international school promoted by the R.S. Luth Education Trust (executive director: Dr. D.P.N. Prasad, former principal of the Bombay Scottish School, Mumbai) — into the Top 10 league table, and the elevation of the Scad World School, Coimbatore (2012) ranked #9 last year to #7.
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“We are honoured that KIS has retained its 2013 ranking as India’s best international residential school. KIS continues to offer high-quality college preparatory education to students from within India and from around the world. As a 113-year-old institution with deep roots in Kodaikanal and Tamil Nadu, we place great emphasis on environment education. KIS is a member of the Green Schools Alliance and our students and staff are actively engaged with grassroots organisations which are doing important work in the Palani Hills to protect our fragile ecosystem. Simultaneously our links with the outside world continue to grow. In the past few years our history students have visited China, music students have travelled to Germany and the UK and our cricket team has played in Dubai,” says Corey Stixrud, an education postgrad of Concordia University, Portland (USA) and a former education consultant who was inducted as vice principal of KIS in 2012 and succeeded Adrian Moody as principal in April. Currently the IBO and AP affiliated KIS has 458 students from 25 countries and 115 faculty on its muster rolls.
The swift and generous recognition for a job well begun which has been accorded to the newly-promoted, capital-intensive CIE-affiliated Scad (Social Change and Development) World School (SWS, estb.2012), sited on a 120 acre campus in Palladam within the 500 acre Scad Knowledge City on the outskirts of Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), has also enthused Frederick Sam. An alum of Madurai Kamaraj, Annamalai and MS universities and former principal of the Good Shepherd Model School, Tuticorin, Sam was appointed principal of SWS early this year.
Scad is an NGO started by Dr. Cletus Babu, a former Catholic priest who gave up his calling for field work in 1985, to free the people of the backward districts of Cheranmahadevi and Tirunelveli from lives of “grinding poverty and debt to one of hope and opportunity” through education and self-help. Since then the number of Scad education institutions has grown to 16 including engineering colleges, polytechnics, ITIs, schools, teacher training colleges and schools for children with special needs. “We are proud and happy that the determined efforts we are making to build a strong foundation for our new school are appreciated by parents, principals and teachers in south India. We have spared no pains and expense in building a modern infrastructure with fully-wired classrooms, and extensive sports facilities featuring an indoor sports auditorium. Vocational and life skills education which include classes in personal grooming, gardening, plumbing, carpentry, motor mechanics and cookery are also offered. Simultaneously we are exploring the best in-service teacher training and development programmes. The Top 10 ranking given to us by EW is a great morale booster for us,” says Sam. Currently this K-12 CIE-affiliated school has an aggregate enrolment of 174 students mentored by 31 teachers.
To see international residential schools league table visit http://www.educationworld.in/rank-school/all-cities/international-school/residential/2014.html