A representative sample of 360 SEC A preschool parents and teachers/principals has voted Kangaroo Kids, Bandra the city’s No.1 preschool for the third year. But the Top 20 league table has been rearranged. Here are Mumbai’s top ranked preschools for the year 2012: This year the preschool league tables of the south-eastern port city of Chennai and the western seaboard metropolis of Mumbai (pop. 12.4 million) — India’s commercial capital — are mirror images of each other. While the premier rank has been retained by the same preschool (Kangaroo Kids, Bandra) for the third consecutive year since in the cause of arousing public awareness about the vital importance of early childhood education (ECE) EducationWorld initiated the India preschool rankings in 2010, as in Chennai the rest of the Mumbai Top 20 league table has witnessed considerable churn. Deftly steered by Swati Popat Vats, president of the Podar Jumbo Kids group of 157 owned and franchised preschools countrywide and promoter-president of the Early Childhood Association (see intro p.38), Podar Jumbo Kids, Santacruz ranked No.12 in 2010 and fifth last year has zoomed to No. 2 in the esteem of Mumbai’s discerning public with high scores under the parameters of individual attention to children and leadership. While the well-known Casa Bambino, Bhulabhai Desai Road has retained its consistent No. 3-4 ranking, The Tree House, Goregaon (West) has continued its steady ascent up the Mumbai league table to be ranked No. 4 (No.10 in 2011) this year. However this impressive rise in reputation has been eclipsed by the spectacular debut of three previously unranked preschools — Little Palms, Babulnath, Leapbridge International, Sion (East) and Silvabrook (formerly Head Start, Bandra) at No. 4, 6 and 7 respectively. EuroKids, Andheri (Lokhandwala) No. 8 (9), Besant Montessori, Juhu No. 9 (15), and West Wind, Gamdevi No. 10 (3) tied with Children’s Nook, Gamdevi (13) complete the Top 10 table with Kangaroo Kids, Santacruz (West) ranked No. 11. “It’s very satisfying to be ranked Mumbai’s top preschool for the third year in succession. I attribute this gratifying ranking to our highly competent teachers committed to readily adopting innovative teaching practices, parental involvement and our focus on providing special needs facilities to differently-abled children. Moreover in Mumbai where space is a major constraint, we have continuously upgraded and improved our infrastructure. All these initiatives are reflected in the parameter scores awarded by respondents to your survey,” says Lina Ashar, the Africa-born, Australia-educated founder-director of Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd which comprises 118 preschools and 14 K-12 schools countrywide under the owned and franchised models. The first preschool to be promoted by Ashar in 1993, Kangaroo Kids, Bandra (annual tuition fees: Rs.57,800-60,900) has an aggregate enrolment of 275 children mentored by 35 teachers. Prriety Gosalia, a child psychology, education management and multiple intelligences alumna of Bombay University, NMIS and the Multiple Intelligences Institute, Singapore and currently chief operating officer and head of academics of the Leapbridge International group of three preschools in Pune and Mumbai’s Leapbridge International, Sion (East) which…
