(Refer December 10, 2001 issue of OUTLOOK)

 Ranking of finest schools in India

Bearers Of The Standards
Outlook surveys the country's best schools and finds out what gets them an A-list rating

PREMCHAND PALETY

Come winter and the search for a good school begins for lakhs of parents across India. Good education is now being perceived by parents cutting across class lines as the best investment for their children. It has also become a major economic burden for the middle and lower classes.

The maximum number of schools in India are run by the government, most of them affiliated to respective state education boards. There are about 3,000 Catholic schools, over 900 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 423 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and over 550 DAV schools. Around 5,000 schools are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and over 1,000 are affiliated to the Council of Indian School Certificate Examination (ICSE). There are also over a hundred elite boarding schools. Then there are schools promoted by various sects.

It’s the public schools however that have in fact become the torchbearers of quality education in India. Public schools here are synonymous with private schools. This is in sharp contrast to the West where state-run schools are considered to be the best. There are an estimated 5,000 good public schools in India with decent infrastructure and student faculty ratio of at the most 20:1. They are affiliated to either one of the boards—the CBSE or the ICSE. The CBSE requires at least 33 per cent pass percentage, the teaching medium is either Hindi or English and NCERT books are followed. Most parents and students feel that CBSE is better suited for competitive examinations, engineering or medicine. The ICSE requires 40 per cent marks to pass in each subject, the teaching medium is only English, it allows schools to select textbooks, is oriented towards the liberal arts, literature and project work. In north and south India, there are more CBSE-affiliated schools whereas in the west and east, particularly in Mumbai and Kolkata, there is a relatively greater number of ICSE schools.

Clearly, it’s a daunting exercise for parents to pick schools of their choice for their children. To help them in the effort, Outlook and market research agency Cfore carried out an exhaustive survey using rigorous methodological tools (see Methodology) to pick the 10 finest schools in six cities—Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. We also did a similar ranking for India’s elite boarding schools. Finally, Outlook correspondents profiled the top six schools in the country, picking up the top school from our survey rankings for every city. The top boarding school is also profiled. Hopefully, it will help you to select the school of your choice.

Premchand Palety With Dhiraj Singh, Charubala Annuncio, Ashis K.Biswas, B.R. Srikanth and      Savitri Chowdhury in Hyderabad

The Best and The Brightest

  • The Mother’s International School, Delhi
  • Little Flower High School, Hyderabad
  • Bishop Cotton Boys School, Bangalore
  • Padma Seshadri Senior Secondary School, Chennai
  • Cathedral & John Connon High School, Mumbai
  • St Xavier’s Collegiate School, Kolkata
  • The Doon School, Dehra Dun
     

Residential Schools

  • The Doon School, Dehra Dun
  • Mayo College, Ajmer
  • The Lawrence School, Sanawar
  • Welham Girls High School, Dehra Dun
  • The Lawrence School, Lovedale
  • St Paul’s School Darjeeling
  • Scindia School Gwalior
  • Rishi Valley School, Rishi Valley, Chittoor, AP
  • Woodstock School Mussoorie
  • Kodaikanal International School Kodaikanal

Delhi

  • The Mother’s International School
  • Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram
  • Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj
  • Modern School, Vasant Vihar
  • Modern School, Barakhamba Road
  • Spring Dales School, Dhaula Kuan
  • The Shri Ram School
  • Air Force Bal Bharati School
  • Sardar Patel Vidyalaya
  • Vasant Valley School

Hyderabad

  • Little Flower High School
  • The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet
  • All Saints High School
  • Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan
  • Jubilee Hills Public School
  • Gitanjali School
  • St Ann’s High School
  • Siva Sivani Public School
  • NASR School
  • The Hyderabad Public School, Ramanathapur

Chennai

  • Padma Seshadri Bala Bhawan Senior Secondary School, Nungambakkam
  • SBOA School and Junior College, Annanagar
  • DAV Boys Higher Secondary School, Gopalapuram
  • Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Egmore
  • Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Mylapore
  • Sacred Heart Matriculation High School, Churchpark
  • P.S. Senior Secondary School, Mylapore
  • Good Shepherd High School, Nungambakkam
  • Sishya, Adyar
  • Holy Angels Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Mogappari

Bangalore

  • Bishop Cotton Boys School
  • National Public School
  • Mallya Aditi International School
  • St Joseph’s Boys High School
  • Vidya Niketan School
  • Baldwin Girls High School
  • The Frank Anthony Public School
  • Bishop Cotton Girls School
  • Sri Kumaran Public School
  • Sacred Heart Girls High School

 

Mumbai

  • Cathedral and John Connon School
  • Bombay Scottish School, Mahim
  • Campion School
  • St Xavier’s High School
  • Don Bosco High School
  • Our Lady of Perpetual Succour
  • St Anthony High School
  • Arya Vidya Mandir
  • St Mary’s High School
  • Villa Theresa High School

Kolkata

  • St Xavier’s Collegiate School
  • La Martiniere for Boys
  • South Point High School
  • La Martiniere for Girls
  • Don Bosco School, Park Circus
  • Loreto Day School
  • Patha Bhavan
  • St James School
  • Ballygunge Government High School
  • Calcutta Boys School
Methodology
How we went about it all -  the parameters and the process.
 

The Outlook survey of schools was designed and conducted by the Centre for Forecasting and Research (C fore). It was carried out in three stages.

A pilot study was conducted in the first stage to identify both residential and non-residential schools. It involved in-depth interviews with 20 academicians from different schools. The following six parameters were identified:

  • Quality of faculty: Based on the teachers’ educational background, their experience and teaching effectiveness;
     

  • Infrastructure and facilities: Including the buildings, classrooms, computer labs, libraries and playgrounds;
     

  • Attention to students: Assessed on the basis of student-faculty ratio as well as the class size;
     

  • Sports: Facilities for different sports and encouragement given to students to excel in their areas of interest; and
     

  • Co-curricular activities: Importance given to co-curricular activities like debates, quiz, dramatics, etc.
     

  • Academic environment: As reflected in the final examination results.

In the second stage, more than 600 teachers from different schools in Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai were asked to rank top schools in their cities in terms of overall image. Based on the responses, a list of 20 schools was prepared for each city.

In the third stage, a schedule containing the list of top schools identified in the second stage was prepared separately for each city. Again, over 100 teachers (including principals and vice-principals) from different schools were asked to rate each of the schools they were familiar with on a 10-point scale. The rating teachers gave their own schools was discounted and each school was rated by at least 10 teachers and evaluated against the six parameters. The C fore team analysed the data and listed the top 10 schools in each city based on the scores. The residential schools were also evaluated similarly against the six parameters and ranked on an all-India basis.

 
 
 

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