In the ninth EducationWorld India Preschool Rankings 2019-20, 19 sufficiently reputed proprietary and 11 franchised preschools in Pune are rated and ranked by 551 parents of preschool children and 61 ECCE teachers and principals. Here are Pune’s best preschools 2019-20 Maharashtra’s second most industrialised city after Mumbai, Pune (pop. 3.1 million) — seat of the once mighty Maratha empire — is the academic and cultural centre of India’s most industrialised state (pop. 115 million) which produces 17 percent of the country’s annual industrial output. It also hosts several top-ranked higher education institutions including Symbiosis International University, College of Engineering, Pune, Armed Forces Medical College, National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla and the Film and Television Institute of India among other higher ed institutions of eminence which annually attract an estimated 22,000 foreign students from 85 countries. Over the past decade, Pune has also emerged as a preferred destination of IT (information technology), biotech companies and start-ups pitching tent in India, making it a promising destination for job seekers. The city’s growing population of business, engineering and biotech professionals has spurred demand for preschools and early childhood care and education (ECCE) centres which have mushroomed in the city and its sprawling suburbs. In the ninth EducationWorld India Preschool Rankings 2019-20, 19 sufficiently reputed proprietary and 11 franchised preschools in Pune — of which seven are debutants — are rated and ranked by 551 parents with at least one child in preschool, and 61 ECCE teachers and principals. PROPRIETARY/OWNED The second preschool promoted by the Bangalore-based Indus Trust (which has also promoted the top-ranked Indus International schools in Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad), Indus Early Learning Centre, Bhosale Nagar (IELC-BN, estb.2014) has emerged as the natural successor of IELC, Koregaon Park (IELC-K, estb.2014), ranked Pune’s #1 proprietary preschool for the past three years which downed shutters in April (2019). Obviously, there is insufficient demand for two high-end (annual tuition fee: Rs.1.8-2.7 lakh) Indus preschools in this essentially middle income city. Be that as it may, Indus trustees who have presumably invested IELC-K’s human and other resources into IELC-BN haven’t lost sleep over the shut-down of their pioneer preschool in Pune because the leadership mantle had devolved on IELC-BN, ranked #4 in 2017-18 and #3 in 2018-19. With top scores under five of EW’s ten parameters of ECCE excellence including teacher competence, teacher welfare and development, innovative teaching and leadership, IELC-BN has bested Primrose Nursery, Koregaon Park ranked above it in 2018-19. “We are delighted to have successfully stepped into the rather large shoes of IELC-K. I am thankful to the Indus Trust management for the extra support it has given us this year. This has enabled us to step up our professional development programmes and improve our infrastructure including safety and hygiene,” acknowledges Viveka Mistry, an English literature graduate of Delhi University with a diploma in Montessori training from the UK, 16 years of teaching experience in international schools (Hong Kong, India and Indonesia) and centre head of IELC-BN since 2015. Currently, this superbly equipped and…
