With many conservative households still preferring gender segregated education institutions for cultural and religious reasons, all-girls’ day schools are flourishing countrywide with many of them having built big size reputations

Even though all-girls schools are going out of fashion around the world, in India they continue to remain relevant and serve an important public purpose. With many traditional households still preferring gender segregated education institutions for cultural and religious reasons, all-girls’ day schools are flourishing countrywide with many of them having built big size reputations for dispensing high-quality academic and co-curricular education.

During the Covid-19 pandemic-prompted closure of all schools since March 2020, managements and teachers of India’s most reputed girls schools have pulled out all stops to ensure the learning continuity of students through online media. In the EW India School Rankings 2021-22, the 11,458 respondents interviewed by the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting & Research (C fore) have awarded girls day schools high scores under the newly introduced parameters of online education effectiveness and mental and emotional well-being services.

Topping this year’s league table of India’s best girls’ day schools with high scores under new as well as conventional parameters of K-12 education excellence such as academic reputation, the competence of teachers, and co-curricular education, is the vintage JB Petit High School for Girls, Mumbai (JBPHS, estb.1865). This CISCE-affiliated K-10 school ranked #1 for three consecutive years in the annual EWISR from 2017-2019, has reclaimed its premier position as India’s #1 all-girls day school in 2021- 22.

Also read: JB Petit High School for Girls, Mumbai

“Though JB Petit has never focused on rankings, it’s gratifying to learn that your well-informed survey respondents are aware of the huge effort our teachers have made to maintain our children’s learning continuity. Our teachers readily switched to online platforms and learnt new technological tools almost overnight. Our parents patiently made all required home-schooling adjustments, while our students showed us once again the power of adaptability and resilience that the country’s youth possess. Our #1 overall rank and top scores for parental involvement, academic reputation, online education, among others is testimony to the support and trust that our teachers, students and parents repose in the school,” says Benaifer P. Kutar, principal of JBPHS, which has 904 girl children mentored by 65 teachers on its musters. The school has reopened in-person classes for class IX students with class VIII and class X opening later in November.

This year, the #2 position has been awarded to the Sacred Heart Sr. Secondary School, Chandigarh (SHSS, estb: 1968) which has leap-frogged from #7 and is jointly ranked second with La Martiniere for Girls, Kolkata. Ranked #3 is the Carmel Convent School, Chandigarh (#1 in 2020-21) followed by Loreto House, Middleton, Kolkata at #4 (5) jointly ranked with Rajmata Krishna Kumari Girls’ Public School, Jodhpur (3) and Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata at #5 (3) — all of whom have yielded ground this year.

Sr. Arti, principal of the CBSE-affiliated SHSS, Chandigarh, is delighted with SHSSS’ India #2 and Punjab #1 ranking with top scores under the important parameters of competence of faculty, academic reputation, leadership and infrastructure provision. “It is an unexpected accolade. The credit for our substantial promotion goes to our dedicated teachers who made great sacrifices to continue the learning of children during the pandemic. Thanks to them and our supportive parents, our children have not suffered any learning loss during the prolonged closure of schools due to the Covid pandemic. In fact our CBSE class X and XII exam averages for the academic year 2020-21 have improved because we reached out and supported all our students to ensure their all-around development,” says Sr. Arti. Currently, this K-12 school has 2,882 girl children mentored by 103 teachers on its muster rolls.

Rupkatha Sarkar, principal of the vintage La Martiniere for Girls (LMG, estb.1836), which has improved its rank from #4 in 2020-21 to #2 this year, is also pleased about the school’s steady progress in the national league table of India’s best all-girls day schools. She is especially happy that LMG has been awarded highest score on the newly introduced parameter of mental & emotional well-being services.

“I am elated about our top score for mental & emotional well-being. It has always been our objective to ensure holistic growth of children which requires nurturing mind, body and spirit equally. During the pandemic campus lockdown, we conducted regular online sessions on mental and emotional well-being for children as well as programmes for parents and teachers to enable them to deal with children’s emotions. Now as we are all set to reopen our school in mid-November, our first priority is to ensure children’s emotional stability as we ease them back into in-person classes,” says Sarkar, principal of LMG since 2015. Currently, this CISCE school sited on an eight-acre campus in the heart of Kolkata, has an enrolment of 2,951 girl students mentored by 110 teachers.

Beyond the Top 5, there is a major rearrangement of seating at the Top 10 league table. La Martiniere Girls College, Lucknow is ranked #6 (#5 in 2020-21), St. Mary’s School, Pune #7 (6) and Villa Theresa High School, Peddar Road, Mumbai has retained its #8 rank. Bishop Cotton Girls School, Bengaluru, ranked #9 (13) jointly with Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ School, Jaipur (10) and NASR School, Khairatabad, Hyderabad at #10 (11) complete the 2021-22 Top 10 league table of India’s best girls day schools.

Dr. Lavanya Mithran, principal of the vintage Bishop Cotton Girls School (BCGS, estb.1865) is delighted this CISCE-affiliated school has been promoted to the Top 10 league table. “It is great that BCGS has finally been ranked among India’s Top 10 girls day schools. This was long overdue. I attribute our improved ranking to the team work of our teachers, parents, and students who collaborated brilliantly to ensure that there was no disruption in learning during the pandemic closure. I want to avail this opportunity to thank our management which came forward to fully support parents and students during this unprecedentedly difficult period. BCGS was the first school in the city to announce a 30 percent fees discount for all parents last year. I believe it’s the collaborative efforts of the entire school community that has earned us our Top 10 entry. Now as schools reopen, we are fully prepared and committed to addressing any learning or socio-emotional loss children may have suffered,” says Dr. Mithran.

Further down the league table of 101 girls day schools, several institutions have risen in public esteem. Among them: Loreto Convent Intermediate College, Lucknow at #12 (#15 in 2020-21), Baldwin Girls, Bengaluru at #20 (25), Arya Mahila NM Model School, Varanasi at #24 (27), Shri Shikshayatan School, Kolkata #29 (40) and Shaw Public School, Kolkata #49 (63).

Moreover, it’s pertinent to bear in mind that several schools ranked beyond the Top 20 in the national league table are highly ranked in their states and cities. For instance, Queens College, Indore, ranked #37 nationally is the #1 girls day school of Madhya Pradesh (pop.73 million); Aspee Kanya Vidyalaya, Bilimora ranked #29 all-India is Gujarat #1 and Notre Dame Academy, Patna, ranked #30 countrywide is #1 in Bihar (pop.127 million).

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