In the 2019-20 Kolkata league tables of proprietary and franchised preschools, there’s only one new entrant in each category, perhaps indicative that the ruling TMC has not yet reversed the toxic legacy of 34 years of Marxist rule. Political volatility supplemented by capital flight, corruption scams and varsity campus violence — the legacy of 34 years of toxic Marxist rule over the state which the ruling Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress party (TMC) has been unsuccessful in reversing — perhaps explains why the 2019-20 Kolkata league tables of proprietary and franchised preschools has only one new entrant in each category. This is in marked contrast to the league tables of other metros — Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai — which feature several newly promoted pre-primaries this year, indicating an entrepreneurial boom in the early childhood care and education (ECCE) sector which it is pertinent to note, is not subject — as yet — to the bull-in-china-shop regulations of government. PROPRIETARY PRESCHOOLS Promoted in 1964 as one of Kolkata’s first Montessori-inspired pre-primaries, Mongrace Montessori House, Short Street (MM-SH), has firmly established itself as the city’s pre-eminent preschool. In the EW Kolkata Preschool Rankings 2019-20, MM-SH is ranked the city’s #1 proprietary preschool for the seventh consecutive year with top scores under the parameters of teacher competence, teacher welfare and development, leadership, value for money and safety and hygiene. “EducationWorld was the first publication to highlight the critical importance of early childhood care and education and rank the country’s best preschools. Therefore, we are honoured and proud to be repeatedly adjudged #1 by this pioneer publication. I am especially happy with MM-SH’s top score under the parameters of teacher competence and teacher welfare and development because the continuous training of our 32 teachers is a top priority of the management. Almost all our teachers have completed the British Council’s online certificate courses on global citizenship and 21st century skills, and regularly attend professional development programmes. In 2019, the Early Childhood Association also conferred MM-SH the ECA Hall of Fame Award for teacher development and promoting best practices in reading. With a legacy of over 55 years, I am very satisfied that MM-SH has emerged as a model preschool for introducing new pedagogies and practices to enable children to learn joyfully,” says Suman Sood, a graduate of Panjab and Madurai Kamaraj universities who took charge as principal of MH-SH in 2011. Currently, this pre-primary has 300 students mentored by 32 teachers. Though the 647 sample respondents including parents of preschool children and ECCE principals and teachers interviewed in Kolkata by the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting & Research (C fore) have retained MM-SH as the #1 preschool, they have voted for a major reshuffle of seating order further down the top table. Swarnim International Preschool, NSC Bose Road, ranked #5 last year, has forged ahead to #2 pushing Mongrace Montessori House and Day Care Centre, New Town — an affiliate of MM-SH — to #3. Prarambh Preschool, BT Road has retained its #3 position even…
