subject: India's Most Admired Preschools 2011: Educationworld- C Fore Survey [print this page] Bangalore, October 11, 2011- In an exercise which began in May and concluded in August, over 100 field researchers of the Delhi-based market research agency Centre for Forecasting & Research Pvt. Ltd (C fore) quizzed 1,731 respondents including parents (with at least one children in pre school), principals and teachers asking them to rate and rank 120 selected preschools in six cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad - in which there is rising awareness of the utility and value of early childhood education (ECE).
The Magic Years, Vasant Vihar (Delhi); Kangaroo Kids, Bandra (Mumbai), EuroKids, Salt Lake (Kolkata), Head Start Montessori, Koramangla (Bangalore), Vael's Billabong-Kangaroo Kids, Neelankarai (Chennai) and EuroKids, Banjara Hills (Hyderabad) have been voted Delhi's, Mumbai's, Kolkata's, Bangalore's, Chennai's and Hyderabad's most admired preschool respectively in the EducationWorld-C fore Preschools Survey 2011.
Respondents were asked to rate preschools in their cities on ten parameters of excellence including teaching competence, safety and hygiene, leadership, play facilities, value for money, parental involvement, individual attention to students, special needs education and infrastructure. The scores awarded to preschools under each parameter were totaled to rank preschools in each city inter se.
"The purpose and intent of the annual EducationWorld-C fore India's Most Admired Preschools Survey 2011 is to stimulate the multiplication and upgradation of nascent ECE institutions countrywide. This is an essential precondition of endowing the vast majority of India's neglected and short-changed children with a foundation for life-long learning," says Dilip Thakore, editor of EducationWorld.
The Top 10 preschools of all six cities will be felicitated at the forthcoming 2nd Early Childhood Education Global Conference 2011 scheduled for December 15, 2011 at the ITC Maratha Hotel, Mumbai.
Delhi - In Delhi, 287 parents, principals and teachers have, for the second consecutive year, ranked The Magic Years Montessori House of Children, Vasant Vihar as Delhi's most admired preschool in the EducationWorld-C fore Delhi's Most Admired Preschools Survey 2011. However this time round its lead over the second-ranked Step by Step, Panchsheel has reduced considerably from 50 points last year to a single point.
While Magic Years and Step by Step have maintained their first and second ranking in 2011, further down the 2011 Delhi league table there's been some shuffling of positions. Learning Tree, Sujan Singh Park has vaulted from No.6 position in 2010 to No.3 this year while Shishuvan, Vasant Kunj and Kangaroo Kids, GK have slipped to No.4 and 5 respectively. At No.6 and 7 are two previously unranked nurseries: Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning, Saket and Ardee Montessori School, Sujan Singh Park. The Top 10 table is completed by Kangaroo Kids, Vasant Kunj (8); Shemrock Heritage, Rohini (9) and EuroKids, Dwarka (10).
Mumbai - In Mumbai 283 parents, principals and teachers ranked Kangaroo Kids, Bandra as the city's most admired preschool in the second EducationWorld-C fore India's Most Admired Preschools Survey 2011. The previously unranked Headstart, Prarthana Samaj has replaced its namesake Headstart, Bandra which is now Silvia Brook preschool) in the second slot. West Wind, Breach Candy ranked No.4 last year, has moved up the ladder to third rank exchanging position with Casa Bambino, Bhulabhai Desai Road.
The more notable feature of the 2011 league table of Mumbai's most admired preschools is that Podar Jumbo Kids, Santacruz (W) ranked No.12 last year has gate-crashed into the Top 5. Further down the list of most admired preschools in the nation's commercial capital, Jack and Jill, Andheri (East) and Children's Nook, Gamdevi (unranked last year), have debuted at No. 12 and 13 respectively.
Kolkata - In the world famous metropolis of Kolkata a respondents sample of 237 parents, principals and teachers have ranked EuroKids, Salt Lake as Kolkata's most admired preschool by a substantial margin with an aggregate score of 871. It was rated No.2 in the EW-C fore Survey of Preschools 2010. Although Little Millennium (previously Roots to Wings), Salt Lake, has dramatically improved upon its No.8 position in 2010, it's a distant second with an aggregate score of 853. Prarambh, B.T. Road, ranked numero uno last year, has been pushed to the third spot this year, followed by Bal Nilaya, Lake Gardens (4) and Red Apple Montessori House, Lenin Sarani (5) - both of whom have conceded one rank since last year.
As in the other five cities where the preschools survey was conducted, some new nurseries have gate crashed into the Top 10 league table. Ranked No.6 and 7 respectively are the previously unranked Blooming Bud School, Bangur Avenue and Tree House, New Alipore. The Top 10 table is completed by Dolna Creche, Kasba, which has vaulted from No.19 position last year to No.8 in 2011; Kidzee Tulip, Dover Lane (9) and Mongrace Montessori House, Short Street (10).
Chennai - A respondent base of 277 parents, principals and teachers has voted Vael's Billabong High-Kangaroo Kids, Neelankarai Chennai's most admired preschool followed by EuroKids, Anna Nagar (2); Bamboola, Raja Annamalaipuram (3); Vruksha, Alwarpet (4); and Bambino Kindergarten. Raja Annamalaipuram (5). Also in the Top 10 are Apple Kids, Royapettah (6); SEED, Ashok Nagar (7); Visva Vidya Mandir Little Millennium (hitherto Roots to Wings), Anna Nagar (8); and Hansel and Gretel, T. Nagar (9) and Little Angels, T. Nagar (10).
Bangalore - In Bangalore, with the respondent public (375 teachers, principals and parents) more informed and more savvy about the requirements and purposes of early childhood education (ECE), there's been a dramatic reordering in the rankings in the garden city's most admired preschools league tables 2011. For instance, The Head Start Montessori House of Children, Koramangala (estb.1984) - a pioneer ECE institution in the garden city - ranked a lowly No. 16 last year has vaulted to the premier position.
Likewise, the previously unranked First Steps, Cunningham Crescent Road is ranked second this year pushing Neev, Indiranagar -last year's top-ranked preschool - to third position in the EducationWorld-C fore India's Most Admired Preschools Survey 2011. Several other ECE institutions, notably Kangaroo Kids, Indiranagar (4), Cherry Tree, Vasant Nagar (5); Podar Jumbo Kids, Dollar's Layout (6); Vidya Sagar, RMV Layout; (7); and Jackfruit House, Malleswaram (8) are ranked among the Top 10 preschools of the garden city.
Hyderabad - EuroKids, Banjara Hills (EKBH) has been ranked as Hyderabad's most admired preschool by a respondents sample comprising of 272 parents, principals and teachers in the second EducationWorld-C fore Survey of Preschools 2011, retaining its last year's postition.
Down the table there's been considerable churn with the entry of five newcomers in the Top 10 league table. Among them: Globe Toters, Jubilee Hills (No.2); Esperanza, Gachibowli (3); Open Interactive Play School, Jubilee Hills (6); Kangaroo Kids, Madhapur (7) and Time Kids, Banjara Hills (9). The entry of these preschools into the Top 10 has pushed Bachpan, Banjara Hills from second position in 2010 to fourth spot in 2011; Kangaroo Kids, Banjara Hills from No.3 last year to 10 this year, while the iDiscoveri XSEED Preschool, Jubilee Hills has slipped from No.6 to 8. The only preschool in last year's Top 10 to improve its ranking is Blue Blocks, Gachibowli, vaulting from No.9 to No.5 this year.
