Hosting large offices of IT multinationals, this business-friendly city has attracted a swarm of edupreneurs who have quickly established dozens of new-genre proprietary and franchised pre-primaries to meet growing demand from well-educated young professionals for high-quality ECCE for their progeny. The ancient city of Hyderabad (pop. 6.8 million), admin capital of India’s newest state Telangana (estb.2014) and de jure capital of Andhra Pradesh, rivals Bangalore not only as a major IT hub but also as a centre of early childhood care and education (ECCE). Hosting large offices of corporate behemoths such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Deloitte and Accenture, this business-friendly city in its new avatar has also attracted a swarm of edupreneurs who have quickly established dozens of new-genre proprietary and franchised pre-primaries to meet growing demand from well-educated young professionals for high-quality ECCE for their progeny. This year, 89 sufficiently reputed pre-primaries (preschools rated by less than 30 sample respondents are eliminated) of Hyderabad — the largest number after Bangalore — are rated and ranked by 685 parents and 84 teachers/principals based in Hyderabad who were polled by field researchers of Delhi-based market research company Centre for Forecasting & Research (C fore). PROPRIETARY PRESCHOOLS Promoted by the Bangalore-based Indus Trust which has established three top-ranked IB-affiliated Indus International primary-secondaries in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune, the Indus International Primary School, Jubilee Hills (IIPS-JH), has been voted Hyderabad’s #1 proprietary preschool for the third consecutive year by the city’s 769 sample respondents. Ranked #1 (jointly with IIPS-JH) between 2015-2017 and #3 last year, CHIREC, Jubilee Hills, founded by well-known educationist Ratna Reddy in 1989, is jointly ranked #2 with Oi Playschool, Jubilee Hills, the model preschool of Hyderabad-based People Combine Educational Initiatives Ltd, followed by Glendale Edufun, Somajiguda and Indus International Junior School, Gachibowli, tied at #3. “I am delighted that IIPS-JH has been voted Hyderabad’s #1 preschool again by this year’s sample respondents. I believe widespread awareness of our continuous efforts to improve curriculum and create pedagogies to enable the social and emotional development of children, is behind this top ranking. Joyful induction of music, dance, drama and learning into our age-appropriate curriculum is also one of our distinguishing features,” says Pushpita Balakrishnan, head of IIPS-JH. A commerce graduate of Osmania University with nine years’ experience of the IT industry, in 2010 Balakrishnan switched tracks and signed up as a teacher at the Glendale Academy and Srinidhi International Schools in Hyderabad, and subsequently in 2014 with the Indus International School, Hyderabad. Last year, she was appointed head of IIPS-JH. Balakrishnan is especially pleased that the Hyderabad sample respondents have awarded IIPS-JH top scores on the parameters of teacher competence and development, infrastructure, individual attention to students, parental involvement, innovative teaching, leadership quality, and safety and hygiene. “In all Indus schools, highest importance is accorded to teacher training and development. In IIPS-JH, our 35 teachers regularly attend in-house and external professional development programmes, and are encouraged to innovate ECCE pedagogies which joyfully educate the hearts and minds of our children. Therefore,…
