In 2007, EducationWorld — India’s first news publication focused on the country’s education system across the spectrum — introduced the annual EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) survey targeted at educators, parents and students countrywide. The objective of EWISR published every year uninterruptedly since then, is to identify and celebrate India’s most admired schools and their promoters, principals and teachers who toil unsung in city suburbs and remote corners of the country.

Unsurprisingly, response from school leaders and teachers whose lonely efforts had never been acknowledged and celebrated on a national platform, was enthusiastic. Since then after the inaugural EWISR rated and ranked a mere 250 schools in 15 cities across the country, the annual EWISR has improved, expanded and evolved into the world’s largest and most comprehensive school rankings survey rating over 4,000 of the country’s most well-known primary-secondaries under 14 parameters of school education excellence. It ranks schools under three main categories — day, boarding and international — and 14 subcategories (co-ed, boys, girls, day-cum-boarding etc) in 518 cities and towns countrywide. Moreover to felicitate and celebrate leaders/principals of high ranked schools, publication of EWISR in print and online is followed by the EWISR Awards Conclave staged in Delhi (October 14-16 this year) where they are awarded trophies, certification and encomiums. 

Inevitably success of the annual EWISR and EWISR Awards Conclave has prompted plagiarization with several pretender publications and events management enterprises replicating the EWISR and EWISR Awards. Yet informed opinion is almost unanimous that our annual rankings survey and awards conclave are the gold standard. Sceptics in doubt are invited to check out our website after October 18.

 Because it’s the world’s largest and most comprehensive schools ranking survey, EWISR 2025-26 is presented in two successive editions of EducationWorld. The country’s most admired Day schools (co-ed, girls, boys, day-cum boarding) are rated and ranked in detailed national, states and 518 cities/towns league tables. India’s most respected Boarding (girls, boys and co-ed) and International (day, day-cum-boarding and residential) will be comprehensively evaluated next month (October) which will feature EWISR Part-II. 

A mountain of labour — field interviews conducted by our research partners AZ Research, Bangalore with 9,500 sample respondents; interviews conducted by our editorial team; checking and re-checking the accuracy of league tables sprawled over 200 pages, the effort of our design team and finally of our printers — has been invested in this issue of EW. Although cynics may scoff, the end objective is to identify and felicitate leaders and teachers of India’s most admired schools and publicize their philosophies, pedagogies to serve as models to uplift the floor of primary-secondary education for the benefit of the world’s largest in-school child population.

Also Read: Letter from the Editor August 2025 issue