A specially selected sample of 325 parents of preschool-going children and 54 knowledgeable principals and teachers in Delhi rated and ranked the national capital’s Top 20 preschools. Here are Delhi’s top ranked preschools for the year 2012: Awareness of the vital importance of early childhood education (ECE) is arguably higher in Delhi than in any urban habitat in India. The annual middle class scramble to get tiny tots into nurseries and play schools, featuring heart rending stories of sacrifices and all-night vigils routinely make prime time news on television and dailies in the winter season. Yet despite a plethora of contemporary preschools — mainly under the franchise model — springing up in every suburb and street corner, upscale SEC (socio-economic category) A house-holds remain consistently loyal to ECE institutions with established reputations. For the third year in succession The Magic Years, Vasant Vihar (TMY, estb. 1976) and Step by Step, Panchsheel have been ranked first and second in Delhi in the EducationWorld India Preschool Rankings (previously known as India’s Most Admired Preschools Rankings). With total scores of 907 and 904 (out of a maximum possible 1,100) respectively across ten parameters of ECE excellence, these two pioneer preschools are leagues ahead of the Ardee Montessori School, Sujan Singh Park which has vaulted to No. 3 in this year’s Delhi league table from No. 7 last year, and the Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning, Saket, ranked fourth (6 in 2011). “All of us at TMY are delighted that Delhi’s public has retained its faith in us to rank this school first for the third year in succession. I believe this is due to widespread awareness that we are constantly adding new facilities and providing value added services to our (220) students. Our latest initiative is the Early Start sports education programme which has been carefully integrated into the academic curriculum in response to a Central government directive. Another factor is our excellent teachers whom we have nurtured in TMY. All of them are graduates with Montessori training and average tenures of 12.5 years in this school and have persisted with us because they have genuine interest in the development and progress of young children,” says Shirley Madhavan Kutty, who promoted TMY 36 years ago and has dedicatedly developed it into Delhi’s most admired preschool which despite being obliged by its charter to admit students from its neighbourhood, nevertheless receives over 900 applications for its 100 seats available annually. A similar sentiment of quiet satisfaction derived from having done a good job of institutional development is discernible within Step by Step, Panchsheel (estb. 1992) which has been ranked a close second in Delhi for the third consecutive year. Ritu Suri who promoted the preschool 20 years ago and Ramani Chopra, an alumna of Punjab University who was appointed principal in 1997, are particularly pleased by the exceptionally high score awarded by the national capital’s informed sample respondents to Step by Step on the parameter of special needs education, a focus area of the preschool. “All of us in Step by Step are very pleased that the informed people in…
