In the latest EW India School Rankings 2025-26, SKV (estb.1956) is ranked India’s #1 girls boarding school and was elevated to the exclusive Ivy League schools’ category

SKV main block

Founded in 1956 by the late Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia (1919-2001) of the royal family of Gwalior, Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV) is an all-girls boarding school, currently celebrating its 70th anniversary.

SKV provides contemporary education rooted in Indian traditions and values to 535 class VI-XII students mentored by 55 teachers. Currently Maharani Priyadarshini Raje Scindia, President, Board of Governors, leads SKV to “provide leadership education to girl children enabling them to play significant roles in building an India where women’s voices matter”.

In the latest EducationWorld India School Rankings 2025-26, the CBSE (Delhi)-affiliated SKV is ranked India’s #1 girls boarding school and was elevated to the exclusive Ivy League schools’ category.

A member institution of the prestigious Indian Public Schools Conference (IPSC), an association of the country’s top legacy boarding schools, SKV students have consistently performed well in the all-India CBSE class X and XII board exams. In 2024-25, SKV girls averaged 88.83 percent and 88.32 percent in the class X and XII board exams respectively, with class X topper Shriya Agarwal and class XII toppers Tanu Jain and Shanaya Hiranandani averaging 98.4 and 98 percent respectively.

The school’s impressive alumni roll call includes politician and statesman Princess Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Kamaljeet Sandhu Kooner, the first Indian woman athlete to win a gold in the Asian Games; Sunanda Singhania née Daga, Director, JK Tyres and PSRI Hospital; Jyotsna Brar, former Principal of Welham Girls, Dehradun; Vaishali Malhotra, IRS Commissioner CGST & Customs, among others.

Sited in the heart of Gwalior on a 35-acre neat, green campus which was once a deer forest, SKV hosts Kamla Bhawan, a heritage building built by Italian architect Sir Michael Filose in the 1800s to serve as a guest house for foreign visitors. To mark the school’s Diamond Anniversary celebrations in 2016, an iconic clock tower was inaugurated by former President of India Pranab Mukherjee. A century-old banyan tree under which Maharaja Jivarao Scindia and his wife spent many hours studying peacocks, is now designated a meditation area.

“Over the years, we have designed a unique pastoral care programme defined by peer and teacher support groups, and expert counselling care to enable students to discover and develop their latent talent and potential. Our highly-qualified teachers provide individual attention and superior pastoral care to every girl child, to ensure wholesome development, empowering and preparing them to assume leadership positions in society,” says , an alumna of Allahabad University who acquired valuable teaching and administrative experience in Nainital’s St. Mary’s, All Saints’ and Sherwood College and served as the Principal of the Vidya Devi Jindal School, Hisar, before being appointed Principal of SKV in 2010.

With the management committed to delivering modern academic infrastructure and sports facilities, several new buildings have been added over the years. Madhav Bhawan is SKV’s new airconditioned academic building which houses 21 spacious classrooms equipped with smart boards and LED interactive screens, and state-of-the art computer science, robotics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, geography and home science laboratories. The school’s library houses 19,000 printed volumes and offers wi-fi access, while a 500-seat auditorium equipped with excellent acoustics is the venue of cultural and social events with separate rooms designated for students’ career and behavioural counselling. SKV’s 535 students are accomodated in four boarding houses equipped with comfortable beds, study tables, and chairs while adhering to stringent standards of sanitation.

The school has a long-standing tradition of excellence in sports. Play and training facilities are provided for 14 sporting disciplines including swimming, volleyball, basketball, lawn tennis, taekwondo, track and field athletics, handball, cricket, badminton, roller skating, table-tennis and chess with horse riding being the latest addition.

Likewise, SKV students are encouraged to explore a diverse range of co-curricular activities such as Indian and Western music, Indian folk, semi-classical and classical dance forms, clay pottery, painting and puppetry. The school’s annual three-day ‘Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Dharohar Festival’ introduces students to Indian culture and heritage. “As an active member of Round Square, UK and AFS India, SKV offers its students global exposure through conferences and inter-cultural exchange programs,” says Misra.

Community service is also a strong thrust area of the school. Under its Sankalp initiative the school has set up a manufacturing unit to produce low-cost sanitary napkins and distribute them to underprivileged women in and around the city.

“Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya is a sanctuary that harmoniously blends rich heritage with innovative enterprise. To ensure our girls transform into confident, values-driven young women, we will continue to achieve academic excellence through vibrant learning spaces, state-of-the-art tech and infrastructure. Our future direction is to provide skills labs for hands-on learning, enterprise education with real-world experiences like pop-up retail, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to spark innovation and entrepreneurship. Driven by our SHE (Service, Heritage and Enterprise) motto I am confident that SKV will remain a safe, inspirational learning institution where girls can explore, create, and lead. I would like to give the world to our students before giving our students to the world,” adds Misra.

ADMISSION & FEES

Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gwalior is a CBSE-affiliated all-girls boarding school. Admissions for classes VI to IX & XI are on the basis of performance in a written test and interview conducted in the month of November.

Tuition fees (annual): Rs.752,000/-

For further information, contact: +91 7828102626/0751 2322137

Write to: [email protected] or visit www.skvgwalior.org