In this category in which competition to excel is most intense and rankings tend to fluctuate from year to year, The Valley School, Bangalore, ranked #6 last year, in India’s Best Day Schools 2016-17 With single gender schools gradually fading away, its inevitable that the league table of co-ed day schools is the largest in the EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) 2016. This year over 1,000 primary-secondary schools across the country divided into ten sub-categories under the broad categories of day, boarding and international, have been rated and ranked by 10,301 informed sample respondents in 28 cities on 14 parameters of education excellence. The number of co-ed day schools included in the 2016 league table aggregate over 400 which translates into the interesting statistic that almost half of the country’s most respected 1,000 are co-educational day schools. In this category in which competition to excel is intense and rankings tend to fluctuate from year to year, the new age J. Krishnamurti-inspired The Valley School, Bangalore (TVS, estb. 1978), ranked #6 last year, is the top-ranked primary-secondary of 2016. Rated #1 on the parameters of teacher competence, life skills and conflict management, parental involvement and community service, TVS has pipped the jointly second-ranked Vasant Valley School, Delhi and Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School, Thane(Mumbai) at the post by a short nose. “Although as a matter of principle, we don’t believe in rating and ranking education institutions or individuals for comparative purposes, we are humbled by the faith reposed in TVS by the EW sample respondents. But while we prefer to avoid media publicity, we are always willing to engage in healthy debate on issues related to education and socio-economic development. Our school is based on the philosophy of J. Krishnamurti, who believed that education cannot be based merely on excellent academic programmes and measuring achievement. Schools and teachers must be engaged in much more and connect deeply with students to explore life as a whole, and understand its subtler aspects and oneself through relationships and enquiry. Perhaps it is this engagement that draws many committed teachers and students to TVS and has won us the respect of informed educationists, parents and teachers”, says S. Jayaram, the self-effacing principal of TVS. Currently, this class I-XII school has 350 students mentored by 30 teachers on its muster rolls. With the second-ranked Vasant Valley School (VVS), Delhi promoted by media tycoon Aroon Purie, chairman of the publicly-listed Living Media India Ltd, which inter alia publishes the best-selling India Today and Business Today among a clutch of other magazines besides owning two television news channels (Headlines Today and Aaj Tak), Arun Kapur, director of the school, is not at all media shy, although he is brisk and business-like. “We are delighted, not because we’ve been ranked second but because the work we do is appreciated, says Kapur who attributes this CBSE-affiliated K-12 schools consistent Top 3 ranking in the annual EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) to widespread awareness that VVS is a dynamic and evolving institution”,…
