India’s top-ranked Boy’s Day Schools

For the fifth consecutive year, the 12,000-plus sample respondents have voted the CISCE-affiliated Campion School, Mumbai, India’s #1 all-boys day school and also top-ranked it for faculty competence, leadership and parental involvement

Since 2013, when the composite day schools category of the annual EducationWorld India School Rankings was sub-divided into co-ed day, day-cum-boarding, all-boys and girls day school, the Campion School, Mumbai has been voted India’s best boys day school. This year too, it’s status quo with the 74-year-old Campion besting its rivals by a comfortable margin to be ranked India’s #1 boys day school for the fifth consecutive year. The 12,000-plus sample respondents have also voted the CISCE (Delhi)-affiliated Campion School, led by its self-effacing principal Paul Machado, #1 on four of the 14 parameters of education excellence in this category including faculty competence, leadership, value for money and parental involvement.

“I am elated that we have retained the top position for the fifth year in a row. This achievement is the result of strong cooperation between the management, teachers, parents and students. I am particularly happy that the public has appreciated and top ranked Campion for faculty competence, leadership and parental involvement as these are critical to delivering all-round education and developing new millennium citizens. Our commitment to continuous improvement has enabled us to retain the #1 rank for a record five years. But we won’t rest on our laurels. We have recently initiated an academic improvement plan under which the school’s teaching-learning programme is being fully revised to keep pace with the needs and challenges of the 21st century,” says Machado, a political science and education alum of Bangalore University who acquired valuable teaching and admin experience at St. Mary’s, Mt. Abu and St. Mary’s, Mazgaon (Mumbai) — all-boys schools — before taking charge as principal of Campion in 2003. Currently, this K-10 all-boys day school has 830 students mentored by 40 teachers on its muster rolls.

While there’s no change at the top, further down the boys’ day school league table there’s been considerable churn. St. John’s High School, Chandigarh has risen to #2 position (#3 in 2016-17) while St. Xavier’s Collegiate, Kolkata has slipped to #3 (2). The Bishop’s School, Pune and St. Mary’s, Mazgaon have both inched up the league table and are jointly ranked #4 this year. The Bangalore-based Bishop Cotton Boys and St. Joseph’s Boys schools have also risen considerably in public esteem to be ranked #6 (9) and #7 (13) in the EW India Boys Day Schools Rankings 2017-18. They are followed by St. Columba’s Delhi and DAV Boys Senior Secondary School, Gopalapuram, Chennai, jointly ranked #8. The previously #15 ranked Nasr Boys, Hyderabad and #12 ranked St. Xavier’s High, Fort, Mumbai have also substantially improved their ranking and are tied at #9 position.

John K. Zachariah, principal of Bishop Cotton Boys School, Bangalore (BCBS, estb.1865) which has an enrolment of 5,960 students and 275 teachers, is enthused that this CISCE-affiliated vintage school has been steadily moving up the national Top 10 league table and is ranked #1 in Karnataka (pop.65 million). “I am very pleased with our improved rank this year. But our goal is to be ranked the #1 boys day school in India. I attribute our success and excellent reputation to the balanced, all-round education we provide and particularly the emphasis we accord to life skills development. We firmly believe we have to continuously reinvent ourselves to develop competent, sensitive and responsible school-leavers who will change the country and the world for the better. Last year, the school hosted a first-of-its-kind three-day HeForShe event in collaboration with United Nations Women to develop gender sensitivity and respect for women among our boys. Our students also staged a Christmas nativity play which attracted an unprecedented audience of 10,000,” says Zachariah, an alumnus of Bangalore and Luton (UK) universities who served with St. Joseph’s College of Arts & Science and the Cathedral High School/Pre-University College, Bangalore, before taking charge as principal of BCBS in 2010.

Yet, the most spectacular debut in the Top 10 league table of India’s best boys day schools is of St. Stanislaus High School, Mumbai, which has leapfrogged from #26 in 2016 to #10 this year (jointly with the vintage Don Bosco High School, Matunga, Mumbai). Founded in 1863 by the Jesuit priestly order, the Top 10 entry of the all-boys St. Stanislaus is momentous because it’s the only state board school — affiliated with the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education — to be ranked in the Top 10 table invariably dominated by schools affiliated with the pan-India CBSE and CISCE exam boards. 

Anna Correa, principal of the 154-year-old school, is obviously thrilled with St. Stanislaus’ Top 10 debut. “I am happy that the concerted efforts of the management, faculty and students are being appreciated by the informed public. St. Stanislaus has a rich heritage of excellence in the fields of academics, sports and extra-curricular education and we are committed to working towards magis — Latin for “more”. For instance to supplement the state board syllabus, this year we have introduced an enrichment course — the St. Stanislaus Certificate Programme — for class VI-VIII students. It is a credit based programme based on four pillars — social, spiritual, intellectual and personal transformation. Moreover, we have also launched an initiative to upgrade sports facilities at the school,” says Correa.

Unsurprisingly too, with most schools established in the new millennium being co-educational, the league table of India’s best boys day schools is restricted to a mere 47 schools and is dominated by evangelist institutions promoted almost a century ago. Among them: La Martiniere Boys College, Lucknow (estb.1845) at #12, St. Edwards, Shimla (1925) ranked #13, Calcutta Boys School (1877, #16), Sacred Heart Boys, Mumbai (1942, #17), St. Vincent’s School, Pune (1867, #22).

To view Boys Day Schools Rankings 2017, please visit: http://www.educationworld.in/rank-school/all-cities/day-school/boys/2017.html