India’s Best Day-cum-Boarding Schools 2017-18

While in other day school league tables, there have been minor changes in the Top 10, in India’s best day-cum-boarding schools 2017-18 rankings there has been a big churn

While in most of the ten categories into which schools have been sub-divided in the annual EW India School Rankings to create a level playing field for all primary-secondaries and to avoid apples and oranges type of comparisons, there have been minor changes in the Top 10 tables, in this year’s 50-plus co-ed day-cum-boarding schools league table there’s been a big churn. These are essentially day schools which also provide board and lodging to out-of-town students. 

After a long duration, Delhi Public School (DPS), RK Puram (Delhi), which enjoys a huge reputation in the national capital, has made it back to the top. With top ratings on the parameters of teacher welfare & development, teacher competence, academic reputation and value for money, DPSRKP, ranked #3 in 2016-17, is ranked #1 in this category by this year’s sample respondents. 

“It feels so good that all the changes that were brought in last year have proved fruitful. We are all overjoyed. DPSRKP is a totally child centric school. Each child has a voice and each teacher gives a guiding hand. We are blessed with students whose talents and achievements are amazing, dedicated faculty and supportive parents,” says Vanita Seghal who took charge as principal of DPSRKP last year.

But while the elevation of the vintage DPSRKP (estb.1972), which has been ranked among the Top 3 for the past five years, is not a surprise — this institution was ranked #1 way back in 2007 when the EW rankings were first introduced — the promotion of the relatively recently promoted CISCE-affiliated Greenwood High School, Bangalore (GHS, estb.2004) to share the #1 spotlight with DPSRKP is a commendable feat. “The past few years have been an exciting time for Greenwood High and we have made a concerted effort to raise the school’s performance on all parameters of education excellence. Therefore we are thrilled that our school is ranked #1 in the category of co-ed day-cum-boarding schools nationally and Greenwood High International is ranked #2 among international day-cum-boarding schools within a short span of time. These top rankings awarded by your informed respondents are the outcome of the hard work of our faculty and cooperation between staff, parents and student fraternities. They have lifted our spirits and strengthened our determination to pursue ever higher goals,” says Manas Mehrotra, a former chartered accountant with an MBA from Babson College, USA and trustee of the Greenwood High group of four preschools and three K-12 schools — all in Bangalore — which have 5,000 students and 1,100 employees on their muster rolls.

With DPSRKP and GHS tied in the top spot, the rest of the Top 5 table is made up of the Modern School, Barakhamba Road (Delhi), ranked #1 last year, the Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal, ranked #3 (5 last year) and Emerald Heights, Indore, at #4 (6) together with the Sai International School, Bhubaneshwar followed by DPS, Dwarka at #5 (#4), DPS, Vasant Kunj, at #6 and the vintage DPS, Mathura Rd, at #7.

Further down the Top 10 table, the vintage (estb.1882) Daly College is evidently suffering from the retirement of its celebrated principal Sumer Singh and has slipped to #8 (2). Commendably the Ebenezer International School, Bangalore has moved up to #8 (10) followed by the low-profile Pallikoodam School, Kottayam tied at #9 (10) with the Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet (9) and Summer Valley, Dehradun and DPS, Faridabad (in a different category last year) tied at #10 (29). 

Dr. Amlan Saha, principal of the low-profile Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal (SVS, estb.2006) is jubilant that SKS is ranked India’s #3 and Madhya Pradesh’s #1 co-ed day-cum-boarding school. “We are overwhelmed — it’s a great feeling like that experienced by great athletes when they break their own records. The crux of the matter is that in our striving towards perfection we are not competing with anyone else, but ourselves,” says Saha who attributes this CISCE and CIE (UK)-affiliated K-12 school’s rising reputation to “continuously striving to nurture individuals — teachers and students — towards excellence in a happy, progressive, values-based learning community”. An alumnus of the Visva Bharati University and former deputy headmaster of the top bracket Assam Valley School, Balipara, Saha was appointed principal of SVS (which has 2,252 students mentored by 252 teachers on its muster rolls), in 2008. 

Quite obviously new-age schools with excellent infrastructure are giving vintage schools such as Delhi’s DPSRKP (estb.1972) and Modern School (1920) tough competition in influencing educationists, parents, teachers and senior students who constitute the sample respondents base of the annual EW rankings. Because another newly promoted school, which is ranked among the Top 5 in the day-cum-boarding category this year, is the Indore-based Emerald Heights International School (EHIS, estb.1982) in which no expense has been spared for infrastructure development. This CBSE and CIE (UK)-affiliated school’s 95-acre campus is lavishly equipped with a 35,000 sq. ft library housing 35,000 print and electronic volumes, six lecture halls, language, geography, math and quizzing labs and a 30,000 sq. ft science park to encourage experiential learning. Sports education includes facilities for cricket, squash, shooting, roller skating, golf, swimming, basketball and football. 

“All of us at EHIS are excited that our ranking in the annual EW India School Rankings is improving year on year. I’m especially pleased that we have overtaken Daly College to whom we have been playing second fiddle for years in Indore and Madhya Pradesh. This is the outcome of the tremendous efforts our faculty and staff have been putting in every year. In EHIS we pride ourselves on the balanced education we provide. The school has been doing well in sports, academics, co-curricular education and internationalism. During the past three years, EHIS has won several IPSC tournaments and we have more than 400 nationally ranked players on campus. We have also placed our students in top universities such as Stanford and U Penn and have hosted more than 200 exchange students,” says Siddharth Singh, a commerce and finance graduate of Stony Brook University, USA with an MBA in marketing and finance, and principal of the school which has 4,000 students and 200 faculty on its muster rolls.

Further down the 108-strong league table of India’s best co-ed day-cum-boarding schools, DPS, Bhilai at #13, the L.K. Singhania Education Centre, Nagaur (Rajasthan) at #17, Yadavindra Public School, Mohali also ranked #17, the Mann School, Delhi and DPS, Siliguri at #20 have all made a great leap upward to be ranked among the Top 20. 

Also read: India’s Best Day-cum-Boarding Schools 2018-19