Normatively sited on sprawling campuses on the outskirts of metros and big cities, international day-cum-boarding schools offer globally benchmarked curriculums, new-tech enabled pedagogies, state-of-the-art academic, sports and co-curricular education facilities and high-quality teachers, including expatriate faculty

India’s international day-cum-boarding schools affiliated with globally respected examination boards are sui generis — in a class by themselves. Normatively sited on sprawling campuses bristling with state-of-the-art infrastructure on the outskirts of metros and other big cities, they admit day scholars and boarders, providing globally benchmarked curriculums, new-tech enabled pedagogies, state-of-the-art academic, sports and co-curricular education facilities and high-quality teachers, including expatriate faculty. While day scholars benefit from the excellent infrastructure and facilities built for boarders, the latter benefit by way of student body diversity.

In addition, flexible residential plans including weekly board and lodging options, allow students to spend weekends at home or with friends and relatives. Given this wide-ranging menu of academic and co-curricular options, it’s unsurprising that international day-cum-boarding schools are becoming particularly popular with the expanding number of nuclear households with working parents.

Ever since 2013 when the annual EW India School Rankings were divided into three principal categories — day, boarding and international — and further sub-divided into ten sub-categories to eliminate apples with oranges comparisons, the international day-cum-boarding schools national league table has been dominated by the brilliantly conceptualised Indus International School, Bengaluru (IIS-B, estb.2003).

This year too, 11,458 sample respondents polled by the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting & Research (C fore) have voted IIS-B India’s #1 international day-cum-boarding school with top scores under the parameters of leadership, community service, teacher welfare and development, online education effectiveness, and curriculum and pedagogy across all sub-categories of international schools. Set within a 40-acre green campus in suburban Bengaluru, this Cambridge International and IB-affiliated K-12 school provides its 1,100 students from 33 countries a stimulating, globally comparable academic, sports, co-curricular and performing arts education.

“We are thrilled that IIS-B is ranked India’s #1 international school for the tenth year in a row. This is validation that the IIS brand of innovative, enriched all-round education has been successful. I am especially happy that IIS-B is ranked #1 under the parameter of online education effectiveness and curriculum and pedagogy as over the past pandemic year, we have creatively reinvented curriculums and pedagogies to deliver highly effective online learning. I also want to congratulate EducationWorld for introducing the CENTA Subject Competency Test which our teachers enjoyed writing as it tested their subject knowledge as well as application skills. Now as we reopen for all classes, we are focusing on bridging learning gaps through an intelligent mix of offline and online learning,” says Sarojini Rao, an economics and education alumna of Pune and Annamalai universities and principal of IIS-B since 2005.

For IIS-B’s continuous top table presidency, Rao credits Lt. Gen (Retd.) Arjun Ray, CEO of the Indus Trust, for shaping IIS-B, into India’s role model international day-cum-boarding school. A highly decorated general of the Indian Army, Ray has also masterminded establishment of two other Indus Schools in Pune and Hyderabad (all ranked in the national Top 10), and the Indus Early Years Schools in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune. Little wonder that IIS-B has been ranked #1 under the parameter of leadership and management for five years continuously (2013-17) and again in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

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IIS-B’s dominant position aside, there’s a minor reshuffle of the seating at top table. While Pathways World School, Aravali, Gurugram has retained its #2 rank, it is co-ranked with The International School, Bangalore (#3 in 2020-21). Greenwood High International, Bengaluru has been promoted to #3 (4) while Stonehill International, Bengaluru at #4 and Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur (JPIS) co-ranked #5, have retained their last year’s rankings. Moreover, Indus International School, Hyderabad has been promoted to #5 (6).

Although pleased about the consistent presence of JPIS, Jaipur at top table, Jayshree Periwal, founder-chairperson of this Cambridge International and IB-affiliated school (estb.2011), believes that JPIS deserves higher rank. “We have done a lot more than schools ranked above us during the pandemic lockdown. Our teachers made extraordinary efforts to maintain effective learning continuity, transforming teaching-learning through digitisation. Proof of their effectiveness is that in 2021, our class XII graduates were awarded scholarships valued at $5.4 million (Rs.40 crore) — the highest of any school countrywide — by top-ranked universities around the world. We also had 11 Ivy League university admissions, the highest number of any school countrywide. Moreover, our Mind Matters student well-being programme ensured that all co-curricular activities and events continued online without disruption during the pandemic. Now we have reopened to a full house of boarders and day scholars,” says Periwal. Currently, JP

IS has an enrolment of 2,280 students mentored by 270 teachers.

Beyond top table, there has been a minor reshuffling of seating arrangement. Genesis Global School, Noida has lost ground and is ranked #6 (3); Indus International School, Pune is co-ranked #7 (8) with Lalaji Memorial Omega International School, Chennai (7); Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad is #8 (9), and Sharanya Narayani International School, Bengaluru #9 (10). The Top 10 table is completed by Sadhbhavana World School, Kozhikode jointly ranked #10 (10) with Sreenidhi International School, Hyderabad (12).

K. Harish, CEO of the Cambridge International-affiliated

Sadhbhavana World School, Kozhikode (SWS, estb.2006 by a group of Middle East-based entrepreneurs) is content with SWS’ consistent India Top 10 and Kerala #1 rank. “In Sadhbhavana, continuous learning and improvement is our mantra. This institutional culture has enabled us to overcome all challenges posed by the pandemic as we smoothly transferred teaching-learning to online platforms. Moreover, we adopted and adapted all best pandemic-online education practices of our affiliate Eminence Private School in the UAE. Our excellent pandemic management record has resulted in the school receiving its largest-ever student admission applications this year. Moreover, with our dedicated teachers taking to their tasks in right earnest, we are happy to report that within two months of school reopening, there’s a huge increase in students’ learning outcomes,” says Harish.

Beyond the Top 10 table, there’s a major realignment of the seating order with many schools losing ground in the 36-strong league table of sufficiently well-reputed international day-cum-boarding schools. Two previously unranked schools — Harvest International School, Ludhiana and White School International, Kozhikode — co-ranked #23, have debuted in this year’s league table.