Field personnel of the Delhi-based C fore interviewed 563 well-informed parents of preschool children and 67 principals/teachers in Noida to rate and rank 22 pre-primaries in the proprietary/owned and franchised categories across ten parameters of ECCE excellence. Here are Noida’s best preschools 2018-19.

The New Okhla Industrial Development Authority aka Noida, sited in the Gautam Buddha Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh — India’s most populous (227 million) and backward state — is an island of prosperity which has rapidly transformed into an IT/ITES services hotspot. Within easy motoring distance from Delhi and included in the National Capital Region together with Gurgaon and Ghaziabad, this fast growing satellite city (pop. 650,000), which hosts offices of IT heavyweights such as Wipro Technologies, TCS, HCL, IBM, Dell and Accenture, attracts thousands of highly educated and skilled professionals who understand the value of and demand professionally administered early childhood care and education (ECCE) for their progeny.

To compile the EW Noida Preschool Rankings 2018-19, field personnel of the Delhi-based market research and opinion polls company C fore interviewed 563 well-informed parents of preschool children and 67 principals/teachers in Noida to rate and rank 22 pre-primaries in the proprietary/owned and franchised categories across ten parameters of ECCE excellence.

Proprietary preschools

Although Noida’s informed sample respondents have reconfirmed Gaia Playschool, Sector 93, Amiown, Sector 44 and Khaitan Preschool, Sector 40 as the city’s top three proprietary pre-primaries, they have also promoted the previously #3 ranked Windows Play Group & Nursery School, Sector 50 to #2 (jointly with Amiown) and Pathways Early Years, Sector 100 to #3 (tied with Khaitan Preschool). The Top 5 table is completed by Stimulus Preschool, Sector 39 which has moved up to #4 (5) and Serra International, Sector 62 at #5 which has made an impressive debut in this year’s EW Noida proprietary preschools league table.

Established in 2008 and sited on a green campus with a duck pond, Gaia Playschool is top-ranked on seven of EducationWorld’s ten parameters of ECCE excellence, including teacher competence and development, infrastructure provision, value for money, innovative teaching, and leadership.

“Our #1 ranking for the past three years is public endorsement of Gaia’s commitment to celebrate the innate talents and individuality of every child, instill social values and ethics derived from India’s traditional education system, and deliver a nature-friendly curriculum. We invest heavily in teacher recruitment and development. Therefore, I am especially pleased about our top scores under the parameters of teacher competence and welfare, and innovative teaching. Special needs education is also very close to my heart. Among my numerous future plans is to establish a special wing for autistic children,” says Aditi Jain, a political science postgraduate of Dehradun University and founder-chairperson of Gaia Playschool, which has an enrolment of 96 children and five teachers. Jain also manages Anandam, a free-of-charge school for 96 economically underprivileged children, and is an active member of the CABE (Central Advisory Board of Education) committee of the Union HRD ministry.

Likewise Aneesha Sahni, coordinator of Pathways Early Years, Sector 100, promoted in 2010 by Pramod K. Jain who has also established three IB (Geneva)-affiliated Pathways K-12 schools and four pre-primaries in Delhi NCR, is elated that PEYS 100 has been promoted to #3 in 2018-19, with #1 ranking under the parameters of infrastructure, individual attention to students and safety and hygiene.

“This is good news. I credit this promotion to our highly trained teachers and well-researched curriculum which enables children to learn through directed play and sensory experiences. Our prime focus is on developing the reading habit, sense of inquiry, and helping children to become independent learners. That’s why it gives me great satisfaction to learn that we have been top-ranked for providing individual attention to students. Moreover, we have created a safe and nurturing environment for our children to develop social and learning skills,” says Sahni, a humanities graduate of Delhi University with certification in early years education from Kent State University (USA) who signed up with Pathways Early Years in 2010. Currently, this pre-primary hosts 264 children mentored by 35 teachers in its 21 fully air-conditioned classrooms.

Beyond the Top 5, this year’s Top 10 table includes the ASPAM Preschool, Sector 62 which has retained its #6 ranking, White Canvas, NS-53 #7 (8 in 2017), Little Pearls Playschool, Sector 29 #8 (7), The Smiling Stars, Sector 92 #9 and ASPAM Preschool, Sector 55 #10.

Franchised preschools

Only nine franchised preschools in Noida are sufficiently well-known to be rated and ranked in 2018-19. Under C fore’s survey methodology, schools rated by less than 30 respondents are eliminated from the league tables. In this truncated league table, there are very few changes in the pecking order. Kangaroo Kids (KK), Sector 34, EuroKids, Sector 93 and Maple Bear Canadian Preschool, Sector 48 are the city’s Top 3 franchised preschools again, while Kidzee Preschool, Sector 62, ranked #7 last year, has been promoted to #4. As in 2017-18, four Maple Bear Canadian franchisee preschools are ranked among Noida’s Top 9.

Sharmila Chatterjee, principal of KK, Sector 34 (estb.2004), a franchisee of the Mumbai-based Kangaroo Kids Education network of 114 preschools and K-12 schools nationwide, is elated that it is #1 for the fourth consecutive year with top scores under all ten parameters of ECCE excellence. “We are humbled by this honour. It will motivate us to work towards continuous improvement on all ten parameters. Credit for this amazing achievement must also go to our franchisor Kangaroo Kids Education and its founder Lina Asher for providing us a well-researched world-class curriculum supplemented with excellent teacher training services. Recently, we have begun to integrate technology and life skills into our curriculum to enable children to develop creative, critical thinking and problem-solving skills from early age,” says Chatterjee, an alumna of Delhi University and IIM-Ahmedabad.

Similarly Preeti Taj, a fine arts alumna of Benaras Hindu University, and headmistress of Kidzee, Sector 62 — a franchisee of the Mumbai-based Zee Network Education Group which has 1,900 franchised preschools in 750 cities — is thrilled that Kidzee S 62 has jumped from #7 in 2017 to #4 in 2018-19. “We are grateful that our efforts towards making early childhood education a joyous experience for children have been acknowledged by parents and teachers of Noida. I attribute this promotion to our diligent teachers, staff and supportive parents. We will work towards improving on all your parameters of early education excellence as our goal is to be ranked #1 in Noida,” says Taj. Currently, this high-potential pre-primary has 150 pupils mentored by 15 teachers.

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