With 33 percent of its residents under the age of 30, Pune is the third largest provider of hi-tech jobs after Bangalore and Delhi. Therefore it’s experiencing a high demand surge for professionally administered early childhood care and education With India’s Silicon Valley, Bangalore, reaching near saturation point in terms of road infrastructure and affordable office space, Pune is emerging as a preferred alternative for the still rising number of IT and biotech companies and start-ups pitching tent in India. The second largest city of Maharashtra, Pune (pop.6.2 million), with 33 percent of its residents under the age of 30 years, is the third largest provider of tech jobs after Bangalore and Delhi. Therefore it’s hardly surprising that this ancient city of the Maratha Peshwas with a strong academic and cultural tradition, is experiencing a high demand surge for professionally rendered early childhood care and education (ECCE) from well-qualified new-age industry professionals aware of indispensable importance of ECCE for their infants. In the eighth EducationWorld India Preschool Rankings 2018-19, 15 sufficiently well-known proprietary and 10 franchised preschools of Pune have been rated and ranked by 511 parents with at least one child in preschool, and 65 ECCE teachers and principals. Proprietary preschools Promoted in 2014 by the Bangalore-based Indus Trust, which owns and manages invariably Top 10 ranked Indus International schools in Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad, Indus Early Learning Centre (IELC), Koregaon Park has retained its #1 rank of 2017-18 with highest scores awarded under seven of the ten parameters of ECCE excellence, including teacher competence and development, innovative teaching and infrastructure provision. With minimal rearrangement of seating at the Top 5 table of Pune’s proprietary preschools this year, Primrose Nursery, Koregaon Park, ranked #2 and Global Montessori Plus, Chinchwad #3 have retained last year’s ranks and Indus Early Learning Centre (IELC), Bhosale Nagar has inched up to #3 (4 in 2017). Formerly a franchisee school of Kangaroo Kids, Rose Kids, Pimple Saudagar, has gone solo this year and is the sole debutant in the Top 5. “We are thrilled to learn that IELC, Koregaon Park is ranked #1 in Pune for the second year in succession. I’m thankful to every member of our team who strives hard to maintain the high standards we set four years ago when we admitted our first batch of children. Our teachers have been constantly innovating and introducing new teaching-learning practices such as mindfulness, design thinking, and leadership development activities. That’s why your sample respondents have ranked us high for teacher competence and innovative teaching. I am also very pleased with our #1 ranking under the parameter of infrastructure provision because a welcoming child-friendly environment is the prerequisite of joyful learning,” says Rachna Gupta, an alumna of IGNOU, Delhi with a Cambridge International diploma in early childhood education and centre head of IELC, Koregaon Park. Currently, the school has an enrollment of 65 students and 12 teachers and 15 support staff. While there’s minimal change in the Top 5, below the salt on the…
