An egregious misinterpretation of Mahatma Gandhi’s edicts on education discouraged English-medium education in Gujarat’s commercial capital. But after liberalisation in 1991, it’s a different story in pre-primary and school education The western seaboard state of Gujarat (pop. 62.7 million) — the bailiwick of prime minister Narendra Modi who served as its chief minister for three consecutive terms before he led the BJP to an epic victory in General Election 2014 — is justly famous for its entrepreneurial and international trading tradition and capabilities. However, an egregious misinterpretation of the Porbander (Gujarat)-born Mahatma Gandhi’s edicts on education prompted the neglect of English learning by almost all governments of Gujarat and discouraged the promotion of ‘elitist’ English-medium private primary-secondary schools for over five decades after independence. But, after liberalisation and deregulation of the Indian economy in 1991, there’s been a spurt in the promotion of new genre private schools to meet the growing demand for English-medium education from aspirational upwardly mobile middle class households. Over the past decade, several primary-secondary chains such as the Ryan International Group of Institutions, Delhi Public School Society and Vibgyor High have set up high quality English-medium private schools in the state. This growing awareness of the importance of English-medium primary-secondary education has trickled down to the early childhood care and education (ECCE) sector which also offers freedom from government interference. During the past decade, a rising tribe of edupreneurs have stepped up to promote contemporary pre-primaries — proprietary and franchised — offering professionally delivered ECCE to young parents. In Ahmedabad — Gujarat’s commercial capital — where awareness of the importance of ECCE is highest — a 574-strong sample respondents database comprising parents with preschool children and teachers/principals was interviewed by C fore field researchers to rate and rank 26 sufficiently well-known proprietary and franchised preschools of the textiles city. Proprietary preschools Promoted in 2009 under the aegis of the Redbricks Education Foundation, Redbricks Junior, Satellite, ranked #2 last year, has trumped the 2015 top-ranked Olive Green Kids, Navrangpura to be ranked Ahmedabad’s #1 proprietary preschool this year. While Olive Green Kids has been pushed to #2, the next three positions in the 2016 league table have been retained by Rising Kids, Bapunagar (3), Thumbelina Nursery, Naranpura (4) and Crayonz Preschool, South Bopal (5) and Vedant International, Maninagar (5). Renita Handa, promoter-director of Redbricks Junior, which was unranked in the composite league tables of 2014, is “more than glad” that Ahmedabad’s informed sample respondents have ranked her pre-primary #1 on the parameters of teacher competence and development, infrastructure, and innovative teaching. “Redbricks is a pioneer of early years education for introducing age-appropriate, research-based curriculums in Ahmedabad where ECCE was a mere downward extension of primary education with premature emphasis on academics. We were the first to substantially invest in developing a cadre of professional early childhood teachers. That’s why parents and educators have rated us #1 on the critical parameters of teacher competence and innovative teaching,” says Handa, an alumna of St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad and Bentley…
