Last year The Magic Years — Delhi’s #1 proprietary preschool for several years — was bested by Step by Step, Panchsheel. But this year it has reclaimed its #1 position in the national capital. Here are Delhi’s most preferred preschools 2016-17

No city, town or community nationwide is more aware of the critical importance of professionally-administered early childhood care and education (ECCE) than Delhi (pop. 18.6 million), a sprawling megalopolis which hasn’t only been awarded the status of a state of the Indian Union but whose reach under the name and style of Delhi NCR (National Capital Region) sprawls across two other states — Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The annual stampede for admissions into the city-state’s most admired pre-primaries which coincides with the onset of the winter season, is frantic with queues formed by anxious parents ready and willing to brave the national capital’s toxic early morning air pollution to obtain all-important admission forms for their infants, quite common and ubiquitous. 

This annual, under-reported phenomenon is unsurprising because admission into the national capital’s top-ranked pre-primaries — especially preschools attached to the city’s most reputed primary-secondaries — is the passport for entry into Delhi’s too-few top-ranked K-12 schools, eliminating the subsequent scramble for admissions into them for 12 years. However, since 2016 your editors have discontinued the rankings of pre-primaries attached to composite K-12 schools as their rankings were coincident with the annual EW India School Rankings published in September every year. But given the huge expansion of the national capital’s population after the overdue liberalisation and deregulation of the Indian economy in 1991 and middle class in particular, the annual rush for admission forms of the city’s most reputed standalone proprietary and franchised preschools is only slightly less frantic. 

Against this backdrop, field researchers of the highly-reputed Delhi-based market research and opinion polls company C fore, interviewed a sample respondents database comprising 760 parents with children in preschool, principals and teachers in Delhi and persuaded them to rate and rank 37 owned/proprietary and 26 franchised preschools in their city. 

Owned/proprietary Preschools

For the past seven years since this publication began rating and ranking the country’s best pre-primaries in the public interest, The Magic Years, Vasant Vihar (TMY, estb. 1984), the national capital’s pioneer preschool, has been voted Delhi’s #1 proprietary pre-primary. However, last year there was break in this tradition with TMY conceding the #1 position to the equally highly-venerated Step by Step, Panchsheel. But this year with top scores awarded under the parameters of teacher competence, teacher welfare & development, value for money, individual attention to students/teacher-pupil ratio, innovative teaching, safety and hygiene and leadership, TMY has bested all other 35 owned/ proprietary preschools in Delhi.

Step by Step, Panchsheel (#2), Little Pearls, Vasant Vihar (joint #2), The Ardee Montessori Sujan Singh Park (3), Amiown, Pushp Vihar (joint #3), Adyant, Vasant Kunj (4) Petals, Nirman Vihar (joint #4) and The Learning Tree, Sujan Singh Park (5) make up the rather crowded 2017-18 Top 5 table. 

“Naturally I’m very pleased to learn that TMY has been restored to its traditional position as Delhi’s #1 preschool in the EducationWorld annual rankings which are based on a wide set of parameters. This ranking is justified because we are a totally child-centric preschool. We have three graduate Montessori-trained teachers in every classroom with an average 1:4 teacher-pupil ratio for our 240 children. Therefore, I am particularly pleased that TMY has been awarded the highest score under the parameter of individual attention to students. Moreover the fact that we invest heavily in the continuous training and development of our teachers is reflected in our #1 ranking under the parameters of teacher welfare and development, teacher competence and innovative teaching,” says Shirley Madhavan Kutty, an alumna of Delhi University and promoter-principal of the 33 year-old TMY. 

But although TMY is routinely ranked first or second, Madhavan Kutty doesn’t quite agree with EducationWorld’s preschools evaluation and ranking methodology which while admittedly not perfect, is the least imperfect. Earlier this year, objecting to EW’s sample respondents-based assessment of rating preschools on the parameter of facilities for special needs children which in her opinion should be separately assessed by special needs experts, she had written to your editors requesting exemption of TMY from this year’s rankings. This request was denied on the ground that EW has the right to evaluate and assess any education institution open to the public on any parameter in the public interest (see p.22 EW September 2017). 

Be that as it may, in the 2017-18 Delhi league table the most spectacular leap forward in the public esteem is of the Little Pearls Play School and Day Care, Vasant Vihar (estb. 1994), from #9 last year to #2 this year. With top scores under the parameters of parental involvement and innovative teaching and high ratings for teacher competence and development, infrastructure and special needs education, this superbly equipped pre-primary promoted by the Pearl Fashion Academy Group which has established five fashion design institutes countrywide, has gate-crashed into the Top 5 table of Delhi’s most admired preschools.

“Of course, I’m delighted with the huge promotion that Delhi’s discerning public has given Little Pearls this year, and I’m especially pleased with the top scores awarded to us under the parameters of parental involvement and innovative teaching. However I’m disappointed with the scores awarded to Little Pearls for infrastructure and safety and hygiene. I am quite confident that no other preschool in Delhi can match us under these parameters. The fact that we are the preferred preschool of most foreign embassies and host children of 22 nationalities is testimony to the high standards of safety and hygiene we maintain here. Moreover, our 16,000 sq.ft campus incudes an aerial walk in harness for children to overcome fear of heights, rock climbing facilities and a nature garden in which children are encouraged to maintain their own little plots. Our curriculum is based on a combination of Montessori, Reggio Emilia and the Playway philosophies of early childhood education and we believe that play is the highest form of research for little children,” says Dr. Ekta Sharma, a child development education postgrad of Panjab University awarded a doctorate in education psychology by the Punjabi University, Patiala and former assistant professor of education at Lady Irwin College who signed up as principal of Little Pearls in 2011. Currently this highly rated preschool of the national capital has 240 children and 22 teachers on its muster rolls. 

Beyond the Top 5, other proprietary preschools which have risen in the public esteem in Delhi are the Knowledge Bus Global Preschool to #8 (from #10 in 2016); the Santa Maria Integrated Learning Environment, Vasant Kunj to #9 (17); Shri Ram Global Preschool, Phase 2, Dwarka to #10 (18); the previously unranked Salwan Montessori, Rajendra Nagar to #11; Ryan Shalom Montessori to #12 (15), and the previously unranked Shri Ram Early Years, GK II to #13. 

Franchised preschools 

Except at the very top where Kangaroo Kids, New Friends Colony (KKNFC) has retained its #1 ranking for the third year in succession, this year’s league table of the national capital’s franchised pre-primaries, i.e, independent preschools provided curriculums, teacher training and brand name rights for a negotiated annual fee by multi-preschool chains such as the Mumbai-based Kangaroo Kids, EuroKids and Kidzee, has experienced dramatic change. Ranked a modest #12 last year, Kangaroo Kids, Rajouri Garden has vaulted into the Top 5 table with a #2 ranking by the 2017-18 sample respondents. Moreover while EuroKids, S. Block, ranked #3, has retained its position at the Top 5 table, the #5 seat is taken by Petals Preschool, Dwarka which has been catapulted from #16 last year. 

Even within the Top 10, there’s considerable churn this year. Maple Bear Canadian Preschool, Geetanjali Enclave has been dramatically promoted to #6 (14); Little Millennium Tilak Nagar and Little Millennium, Kalkaji to joint #8 from #15 and #18 last year. Similarly, the #9 rank is jointly held by Maple Bear Canadian Preschool, Rajouri Garden and Sanfort, Mayur Vihar promoted from #18 and unranked in 2016 with the #10 place awarded to Bachpan Playschool, Dwarka (16) — all of whom have risen high in public esteem. 

“I am delighted that for the third year in succession KKNFC has been voted the national capital’s #1 franchised preschool by a wide margin. A great measure of the credit for this achievement is due to our franchisor institution Kangaroo Kids Education and its founder-chairman Lina Asher who have given us a curriculum which is easy for our teachers to understand and implement. We are also blessed with a wonderful team of teachers who are passionate about giving our children structured and enjoyable early childhood education and providing them a solid foundation for school and further education. Of all the parameters on which we have been ranked first, the one that gives me greatest satisfaction is innovative teaching through which we have ensured that our children learn joyously. I’m also delighted with our #1 rating on the parameter of safety and hygiene. We were the first preschool in Delhi to install CCTV cameras which are accessible to teachers and parents throughout school hours. We are a totally open and transparent institution,” says Menka Sharma, an alumna of the Kakatiya (Warangal) and Chaudhury Charan Singh (Meerut) universities with 12 years teaching experience who promoted KKNF in 2010. 

Equally spectacular this year has been the rise of the low-profile Kidzee, Janakpuri (estb. 2013) which from its modest #13 ranking last year is ranked #4 in the 26-strong Delhi franchised preschools league table of 2017-18. “I am pleasantly surprised — indeed overwhelmed — that a low-profile preschool such as ours is ranked among the Top 5 in Delhi. I believe a major share of the credit should accrue to our franchisor Kidzee who has given us an excellent curriculum which is constantly innovated and supplemented with teacher training workshops by master trainers. As a result, our focus is on providing love, affection and innovative teaching to our children in a safe and hygienic environment. I’m also fortunate in that we are supported by very caring teachers and parents,” says Meeta Sharma, a commerce graduate of Delhi and Calcutta universities who signed up as a Kidzee franchisee four years ago after acquiring several years of teaching experience at the M.R. Vivekananda School in Kolkata. 

However Dina Bakshi, the principal of Kangaroo Kids, Rajouri Garden, which has also risen high in the esteem of Delhi’s informed public, declined to speak with EducationWorld unless we briefed her about this publication’s history and credentials. (Our comment: Madam if you are in education and if you’ve never heard of EW — indisputably India’s #1 education newsmagazine which completed 18 years of uninterrupted publication last month — you get 0/10 for domain knowledge). 

Beyond the Top 10, several franchised preschools of the national capital have risen impressively in the esteem of the informed public. Among them: The Study, East of Kailash ranked #13 (17); Maple Bear Canadian, Safdarjung Enclave #14 (20); Serra International, Vikaspuri #15 (20); Little Planet, Prashant Vihar, Rohini #15 (21) and Maple Bear Canadian Preschool, New Friends Colony #18 (unranked).

Also read: Delhi’s top-ranked preschools 2019-20