In EWISR 2020-21, the two-year reign of the Delhi state government’s Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya, Sector 10, Dwarka, which sensationally ended the dominance of Central government-run Kendriya Vidyalayas, has ended – Paromita Sengupta The Covid-19 outbreak and isolation which has forced closure of 1.4 million anganwadis (government-run child nutrition and early childhood education centres), 60,000 private pre-primaries, 1.5 million K-12 schools, 41,907 colleges and 1,028 universities since mid-March, has given a new lease of life to India’s floundering 1.20 million government schools. The vast majority of them — except for the Central government- funded 1,232 Kendriya Vidyalayas and 636 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas — are negligently managed by state and local governments. But with an estimated 11 million employees and workers suffering loss of jobs and income following closure of public transport, businesses and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), and household budgets stretched tight, free-of-charge government schools and heavily subsidised Kendriya Vidyalayas have become the only options for working and lower class households, which hitherto have been voting with their wallets and enrolling their progeny in affordable private budget schools whose number is estimated at 450,000 countrywide. Therefore choosing the best government school has become an important priority for a large number of households countrywide. This year to rate and rank India’s most respected government schools on 14 parameters of school education excellence, field representatives of our partner agency C fore interviewed 1,046 SEC (socio-economic category) ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ respondents across the country. The perceptual scores awarded by respondents under the 14 parameters were totaled to rank best government schools. In the EWISR 2020-21, the two-year reign of the Delhi state government’s Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV), Sector 10, Dwarka, Delhi, which sensationally ended the long run of the Central Kendriya Vidyalayas last year sparking wild jubilation in the Delhi state government, has ended. Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV), Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), ranked #1 in 2016-17 but #4, in the next two years, is voted #1 again with top scores under seven parameters of education excellence. Within the Top 5, RPVV, Sector 10, Dwarka, Delhi has been pushed down to #2 followed by Kendriya Vidyalaya-IIT Madras, Chennai (#2 in 2019-20) jointly ranked with the Kerala state government’s celebrated Government Vocational Higher Secondary School for Girls, Nadakkavu, Kozhikode at #3. The previously unranked Worli Seaface Mumbai Public English School has debuted at #4 and is co-ranked with KV-IIT Bombay. RPVV, Sector 11, Rohini is promoted to #5 jointly with the Odisha government’s Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Hatiota. Evidently some state schools are beginning to challenge KV dominance in the government day schools category. “During the previous two years following our slipping to #4 rank, we drew up a comprehensive plan to identify our flaws and address and improve our perceived weak areas. We are especially pleased that KV-Pattom is awarded the highest score under the parameter of curriculum & pedagogy (digital readiness). Since March, our teachers have successfully conducted real-time online classes through digital platforms such as Google Meet, Zoom. Continuous improvement under…
