Although the preference in the national capital is for composite K-12 schools, standalone proprietary and franchised pre-primaries which often admit less than two-year-olds are a godsend for young double-income parents in nuclear households. Here are Delhi’s top-ranked preschools 2019-20. Perhaps no urban habitat in India is more appreciative of the importance of giving children an early start in education than Delhi (pop. 19 million), the administrative hub and national capital of India. The sight of anxious parents wrapped up in woollens and braving the toxic early morning air of the world’s most polluted city — a dubious distinction conferred recently on this imperious city of wide avenues, gardens, impressive tombs and palaces by the World Health Organisation — is commonplace every winter. These huddled parents line up for admission forms of the national capital’s top-ranked pre-primaries aka preschools. Although the longest queues are before the gates of composite K-12 schools which offer young parents the inviting prospect of their much-loved progeny availing high-quality private education all the way up to class XII, the queues before standalone top-ranked proprietary and franchised pre-primaries which often admit children less than two-year-olds are, if at all, only slightly shorter. For double income young parents in nuclear households, the country’s rapidly multiplying standalone preschools and ECCE centres are a godsend. DELHI’S TOP RANKED PRESCHOOLS 2091-20 – PROPRIETARY PRESCHOOLS Ever since the pioneer annual EducationWorld India Preschool Rankings were introduced in 2010, the league table of Delhi’s most admired proprietary pre-primaries promoted by visionary edupreneurs acquainted with the teaching and work of Western ECCE educators such as Dr. Maria Montessori, Jean Piaget and Rudolf Steiner, has been dominated by a handful of carefully conceptualised, child-centric preschools. Quick to adapt with the temper of the times and adopt best ECCE practices from Finland, Italy (Reggio Emilia), the US and UK where the cognitive sciences are deeply researched and quickly implemented, Delhi’s vintage pre-primaries continue to be held in high esteem by knowledgeable young parents and seasoned educators. Therefore, there has at best been a minor readjustment of seating at the Top 5 table of the national capital’s most respected proprietary preschools. Step by Step, Panchsheel (SbS, estb.1992) which was jointly ranked #1 last year with The Magic Years, Vasant Vihar (TMY), promoted by the legendary Shirley Madhavan Kutty in 1984, has been placed a notch above in 2019-20 by Delhi’s sample respondents with Little Pearls — also in Vasant Vihar — jointly ranked #2 with TMY. They are accorded pride of place among the Top 5 together with Ardee School, Friends Colony which retains its #3 ranking of 2018-19, and Amiown, Pushp Vihar at #4 (4). The new entrant into the Top 5 is the Wonderland Play School, Chanakyapuri jointly ranked #4 (6) followed by Petals Preschool, Nirmal Vihar ranked #5 (4) together with Tender Feet, Vasant Kunj (12) which has made a great leap upward in the esteem of the national capital’s sample respondents. “I am delighted to learn that SbS has been exclusively voted Delhi’s #1…
