The country’s best girls’ day schools have built formidable reputations in their host cities for producing excellent academic results — they usually outperform boys/co-ed schools in school-leaving board exams — as also for providing rigorous co-curricular and sports education

Sacred Heart, Chandigarh’s Sr. Venita Joseph dedicated faculty outcome

It’s a progressive development that co-ed day schools — in which girls and boys learn together from youngest age — attract the highest new student admission registrations countrywide. But all-girls day schools show no sign of fading away. In an obstinately conservative and patriarchal society where gender discrimination is rife and sexual misconduct is common, a sizeable number of parents prefer to enroll girl children in all-girls schools for cultural, religious and safety reasons.

Moreover, the country’s most respected girls’ day schools have built formidable reputations in their host cities for producing excellent academic results — they usually outperform boys/co-ed schools in school-leaving board exams — as also for providing rigorous co-curricular and sports education. In the recently concluded XX Asian Games held in Nagoya, Japan, India’s women athletes won more medals than the male contingent.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that the broad category of all-girls day schools — sub-divided in 2022 to create a new category of vintage legacy schools (over 90 years of age) — in the EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) 2026-27 comprises 113 institutions (cf. 52 boys schools) indicating continuous demand for gender-segregated education for girl children.

Be that as it may, the EW 2026-27 league table of India’s best girls day schools has undergone a makeover. With the Rajmata Krishna Kumari Girls Public School, Jodhpur — ranked India’s #1 all-girls day school for three consecutive years (2023-25) — having been elevated to Ivy League status (see p.44), this year’s 18,000 sample respondents comprising parents, teachers, educationists and counsellors interviewed by the Bengaluru-based AZ Research Partners have voted Sacred Heart Sr Sec School, Chandigarh, India’s #1 girls day school (#3 in 2025-26) followed by Uttam School for Girls, Ghaziabad at #2 (4) and Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata jointly ranked #3 (2) with Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls School, Jaipur (5).

Sr. Venita Joseph, principal of Sacred Heart, Chandigarh (SHC, estb.1968), is “deeply honoured and humbled” that this CBSE-affiliated all-girls school has been promoted to India #1 with highest scores under the parameters of academic reputation, curriculum and pedagogy, co-curricular and sports education, parental involvement and value for money.

“Being ranked #1 in 2022-23, #2 in 2023-24, #3 in 2024-25 and 2025-26 and now #1 this year, has been a roller-coaster ride. Getting to the top again is the outcome of the collective effort of our students, teachers, and parents. Our dedicated and committed faculty worked hard to develop student-centred pedagogies, academic excellence, holistic development, values-based education and meaningful parental involvement to ensure we regained our #1 rank. It’s especially heartening that we have been awarded the highest scores for academic reputation, curriculum and pedagogy, co-curricular and sports education and high score for competence of faculty. In SHC, our teaching-learning goes beyond textbooks to develop students’ critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration skills. This is supplemented by experiential and technology-enabled learning, focus on sports, arts and other co-curricular domains,” says Sr. Venita Joseph. Currently, SHC has an enrolment of 3,094 girl students mentored by 110 teachers.

Sharmila Raheja: mental & emotional wellbeing priority

Similarly, Sharmila Raheja, principal of Uttam Girls School, Ghaziabad (estb.1995), is thrilled with the promotion — from #4 in 2025-26 to #2 in 2026-27 — awarded by this year’s sample respondents and high scores under the parameters of competence of faculty, teacher welfare and development and highest score for mental and emotional well-being services.

“This is great news and an acknowledgement of the holistic and innovative education rooted in Indian values we provide our girl children. While I am happy with our high scores under the critical parameters of teacher competence and teacher welfare and development — we conduct regular in-service training and have also signed an MoU with Miranda House, Delhi to upskill our teachers in STEM disciplines — I am most pleased with our top score for mental and emotional wellbeing of our children. Uttam Girls is one of the first schools to implement Project MATE (Mind Activation Through Education), an adolescent mental health and wellness initiative jointly developed by AIIMS, Delhi and CBSE for middle school children to enhance emotional resilience, stress management, digital wellness, and peer connectivity. We are well on our way to creating a compassionate, progressive learning ecosystem in which children are encouraged to realise their full potential,” says Raheja.

Beyond the Top 3, there’s considerable reconfiguring of last year’s seating order. Carmel Convent School, Chandigarh has ceded ground and is ranked #4 (3) while Presentation Convent Sr. Sec. School, Jammu has been promoted to #5 (7) as have Sadhu Vaswani International School for Girls, Delhi jointly ranked #6 (9) with Sushila Birla Girls School, Kolkata (10). Similarly, DAV Girls Senior Secondary School, Mogappair, Chennai has advanced to #7 (12); Notre Dame Academy, Patna to #8 (12) and Sacred Heart Convent School, Jamshedpur to #9 (13).

The Top 10 table is completed by DAV Girls Senior Secondary School, Lloyds Road, Chennai at #9 (8), Carmel Convent School, Delhi at #10 (6) jointly ranked with Ashok Hall Girls Higher Secondary School, Kolkata (15).

Ashok Hall Girls’ Shampa Banik (centre right): morale booster

Shampa Banik, principal of the CBSE-affiliated Ashok Hall Girls Higher Secondary School, Kolkata (AHGHSS, estb.1951) is delighted about the school’s big promotion from #15 in 2025-26 to the Top 10 table this year. “We are deeply encouraged by this recognition. This promotion is the outcome of several interconnected factors, including a committed and experienced faculty, curriculum that develops children’s critical thinking, creativity, leadership, communication skills, emotional well-being and has room for participation in the arts and sports. Moreover, bearing in mind the changing education landscape and CBSE’s emphasis on future-ready learning, we are focusing on artificial intelligence, robotics, coding, skilling, experiential and interdisciplinary learning. We are grateful that your survey respondents have awarded us a big promotion this year. It’s a huge morale booster for our dedicated teachers,” says Banik. Currently, AHGHSS has an enrolment of 2,000 students and 94 teachers on its musters.

Further down the 63-strong league table of India’s most admired girls day schools, several institutions have risen in public esteem. Arya Mahila NM Model School, Varanasi has leapfrogged to #12 (16), Mater Dei Convent School, Delhi to #13 (17), Meerut Public Girls School, Shastri Nagar to #16 (20), and Aspee Kanya Vidyalaya, Bilimora (Gujarat) to #19 (24).

Readers should also bear in mind that several schools ranked beyond Top 20 in the national league table are highly admired in their host states and cities. For instance, Queens’ College, Indore, ranked #22 nationally is the #1 girls’ day school of Madhya Pradesh (pop.73 million); Rajkumari Sanatombi Devi Vidyalaya, Pangei, Imphal, ranked #30 countrywide is Manipur #1 and Holy Child Sr. Sec. School, Sonipat ranked #35 all-India is #1 in Haryana (pop.31 million). (For vintage legacy girls day schools see p.262).