With private entrepreneurs having quickly established Gurgaon as a hub of the IT, automobile and BPO industries, globally benchmarked schools and universities, new-age pre-primaries have inevitably mushroomed. Here are Gurgaon’s most admired preschools for the year 2016: Although sited in the neighbouring state of Haryana (pop. 28 million), the new steel and glass city of Gurgaon (pop.900,000) — ill-advisedly rechristened Gurugram by foolish state politicians after it had established a global reputation as an IT (information technology) hub — owes its rapid growth and development to its proximity to Delhi, the national capital and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) marketers among others who include it in Delhi NCR (National Capital Region). Typically, Gurgaon/Gurugram has grown in jugaad (improvised) style for which India is notorious. Private sector real estate developers have built world-class housing estates and layouts, but government-constructed infrastructure lags way behind. Roads are pot-holed and crowded, garbage is ubiquitous, power cuts are frequent and air pollution reaches 13 times the WHO (World Health Organisation)-recommended level. Despite these constraints, private sector edupreneurs have established several globally benchmarked schools (Pathways, Scottish High, G.D. Goenka, Heritage) and universities (Ashoka, O.P. Jindal) in Gurgaon and/or its fringes, to cater to the city’s large and growing pool of professionals employed in IT/ICT (HCL Oracle, IBM, Microsoft), automobile (Maruti-Suzuki, Hero Honda, TVS Sundaram), BPO (American Express, Amazon, Bank of America) among other industries. Inevitably, new age pre-primaries have also sprung up in this fast-track new millennium city which has the third highest per capita income in India. To rate and rank Gurgaon’s most-reputed preschools inter se, C fore field researchers interviewed 584 parents and 61 principals of this buzzing city. OWNED/PROPRIETARY SCHOOLS Pallavan, Sohna Road (estb.2001), promoted by Arun Kapur, renowned educationist and director of Delhi’s top-ranked Vasant Valley School, has firmly established itself as the millennium city’s most admired pre-primary. It has been voted the city’s #1 proprietary pre-primary for the fifth consecutive year but is obliged to share top billing with Amiown, Sector 27 — one of six Amiown preschools promoted in Delhi NCR by the Amity University promoters — this year. The Shri Ram Early Years, ranked #1 in 2015, is ranked #3 while the Idiscoveri Preschool, Sector 46 has maintained its second rank. Pathways Early Years, Sector 49, ranked #7 in 2015, has made a great leap forward to be ranked #3. Steadily improving its ranking since 2014 and voted #4 this year (#5 in 2015) is Medhaam Preschool, South City 1 which is followed by the previously unranked The Sixth Element, South City 1, which at #5, is tied with Amiown, Sohna Road (#6). Sapna Chauhan, an alumna of the Wharton School of Business and vice chairperson of the Amiown Group of pre-primaries, is unsurprised by the top rank awarded to Amiown, Sector 27. “It was only a matter of time before the public acknowledged that the quality of ECCE we offer is far ahead of the competition. Nevertheless, this recognition is a morale booster for my highly qualified and…
