To construct the EW Noida Preschool Rankings 2017-18 league tables, an informed respondents sample comprising 534 parents with preschool-going children and 75 preschool principals/teachers were interviewed by field personnel of Delhi-based market research firm C fore

Although officially the bustling new city of Noida (pop. 650,000) is sited in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous (212 million) and arguably most educationally backward state, its inclusion (together with Gurgaon and Ghaziabad) in Delhi NCR (National Capital Region) for business and commercial purposes has helped it transform into UP’s most contemporary and prosperous habitation (per capita income: Rs.85,519). The city has emerged as an IT and IT-enabled services industry hub hosting the offices of corporate heavyweights such as Wipro Technologies, TCS, HCL Technologies, IBM, Dell, Accenture among other blue-chip Indian and foreign companies.

Inevitably, a large number of educational institutions including top-ranked K-12 schools such as Step by Step, the Shiv Nadar School, Amity International, Lotus Valley, the Shriram Millennium and Genesis Global among others have mushroomed in this steel and glass city. Following in their wake, internationally benchmarked new age pre-primaries have also mushroomed to cater to this fast-expanding new city’s large and growing pool of business and industry professionals demanding high quality preschool to higher education for their children. 

To construct the EducationWorld Noida Preschool Rankings 2017-18 league tables, an informed respondents sample comprising 534 parents with preschool-going children and 75 preschool principals/teachers were interviewed by field personnel of Delhi-based market research firm C fore.
 
PROPRIETARY PRESCHOOLS

The new genre Gaia Playschool, Sector 93 (estb. 2008) has been voted Noida’s #1 proprietary preschool for the second consecutive year. With top ratings on the parameters of teacher competence, innovative teaching, value for money and leadership quality, Gaia (Greek for ‘mother earth’), sited on a one-acre nature-friendly campus, has outranked the Amity Group’s Amiown, Sector 44 and Windows Play Group and Nursery, Sector 50 (in that order) for the second year in succession. Khaitan Preschool, Sector 40 (#3), Pathways Early Years, Sector 100 (4) and the Stimulus Preschool, Sector 39 (5) complete the Top 5 table. 

“I’m very pleased that Gaia has again been ranked Noida’s #1 preschool by your informed sample respondents. It’s a welcome endorsement of our philosophy of seamlessly blending the outdoors with the indoors in early childhood education through nature exploration, and encouraging peer-learning encounters and exchanges that provoke thinking, conversation, curiosity, reflection and wonder. In Gaia, we invest heavily in rigorous teacher recruitment and development processes. Therefore I am especially pleased with our top ratings under the parameters of teacher competence and innovative teaching. We follow a nature-friendly curriculum specially designed to boost the interest of children in reading, science and art,” says Aditi Jain, a political science postgraduate of Dehradun University and founder chairperson of Gaia Playschool, which currently has 105 students and 12 teachers on its muster rolls.

Although the Khaitan Preschool, Sector 40 (estb.2013) has been retained in the Top 5 table, ranked #3 as it was last year, Nandini Malik believes that her pre-primary deserves a higher ranking. “In terms of infrastructure and several other parameters of preschool education excellence, we are far ahead of the two schools ranked above us. Under the able guidance of our director S.L. Gupta, since inception we have invested heavily in research and designed an excellent early years curriculum which encourages children to explore and learn joyously at their own pace. Moreover, our teachers derive the benefits of our continuous research and development workshops which keep them abreast of the latest ECCE practices worldwide. We are aware of C fore’s rankings methodology thus far. However, it is our earnest request to EW to include a physical assessment of the Top 5 preschools before awarding final scores as it will add to your credibility,” pleads Malik, a biology and education alumna of Delhi and Ambala universities who acquired two decades of teaching experience in Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan, prior to signing up with the K-12 Khaitan School in 2002.
 
 FRANCHISED PRESCHOOLS

Only nine franchised preschools in Noida are sufficiently well-known to be rated and ranked this year. Under C fore’s survey methodology, schools rated by less than 30 respondents are eliminated from the league tables.

Unsurprisingly, even in the franchised league table, there are very few changes in the pecking order except that Maple Bear Canadian (MBC) Preschool, Sector 62, ranked #7 last year has been promoted to the Top 5 table at the expense of Kidzee, Sector 62. Indeed, MBC preschools have evidently impressed this year’s 609 Noida-based sample respondents. Four MBC franchisee preschools are ranked among Noida’s Top 9. 

However, as in 2016, Kangaroo Kids, Sector 34, EuroKids, Sector 93 and Maple Bear Canadian Preschool, Sector 48 are the city’s Top 3 preschools in the franchised category. 

Sharmila Chatterjee, principal of Kangaroo Kids, Sector 34 (estb.2004), a franchisee of the Mumbai-based Kangaroo Kids Education network of 100-plus preschools and K-12 schools nationwide, is delighted to be voted #1 by a huge margin with the highest ratings on all ten parameters of ECCE excellence. “We are elated to be ranked #1 for the third year in a row. This is public appreciation of our commitment and vision. I attribute this great achievement to our dedicated teachers who have worked hard in setting high benchmarks for every parameter. We are especially pleased with our #1 rating on individual attention to students and special needs education as these are our prime focus areas. We strictly maintain a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:12 and our inclusive education policy mandates at least one-two pupils with special needs in each class. Moreover, our specially designed early intervention programme is supported by a committed team of special needs educators, speech therapists and counselors,” says Chatterjee, an alumna of Delhi University and IIM-Ahmedabad.

Similarly, Sudeepa Parashar, a political science postgraduate of Delhi University and principal of Maple Bear Canadian Preschool, Sector 62, which is promoted to the Top 5 table with a #4 ranking (cf. #7 in 2016), is elated about the promotion and high score on the parameter of safety and hygiene. 

“We are gratified that our efforts towards making ECCE a fun-filled, creative learning experience have been acknowledged by the informed public of Noida. I attribute this recognition to the contributions of our highly trained teachers, staff and supportive parent community. We believe that no ECCE programme can succeed without parental involvement which is why we implement Maple Bear’s 360 degree journey of learning together with all our stakeholders. In particular, we are delighted to be rated highly on the parameter of safety and hygiene as it has always been our topmost priority. Apart from installing age-appropriate infrastructure, we also provide live 24/7 CCTV access of our campus to our parents. Moreover, valuable lessons on personal hygiene are given to our tiny tots through storytelling,” says Parashar. Currently, this pre-primary has 46 pupils mentored by nine teachers.

Also read: Noida’s best preschools 2019-20