EW Grand Jury India Preschool Rankings 2022-23

Introduced in 2018, the EducationWorld Grand Jury India Preschool Rankings felicitate pre-primaries that have introduced contemporary pedagogies and practices in early childhood care and education (ECCE). To shortlist and select progressive preschools countrywide, we invited nominations from educationists, individuals and schools themselves, supported by evidence of best practices in ten categories — teacher-parent-student engagement, campus design, nature-friendly environment, innovative pedagogy, outstanding leadership, health-nutrition-safety, future-ready preschools, design thinking, best technology integration and most respected early childhood education brands. Moreover, we also invited nominations from pre-primaries of composite K-12 schools which have integrated and adopted best ECCE practices. The nominations were duly assessed by a jury comprising eminent educationists Fatema Agarkar, founder of Agarkar Centre for Excellence, Mumbai; Kausar Sayeed, member, National Core Committee, Early Childhood Association of India; and Dr. Maalathi K.R, founder and CEO, Aurro Educational Services, Chennai. The complete Top 10 EW Grand Jury India Preschool Rankings 2022-23 are presented in the pages following. India’s Most Respected Early Childhood Education Brands Institutions which have made exceptional contribution to expansion and upgradation of early childhood care and education. “Every stakeholder of the Podar Education Network — parents, teachers, support staff and management — is elated by this prestigious award. Podar stands for quality and global standards in early childhood education and our philosophy of ‘Kiducation’ ensures that every child is nurtured to realise her full potential. We believe that parents are our partners and teachers our education warriors who should collaborate for the happiness and success of children. Podar Jumbo Kids is now upgrading to Podar Prep with a new Trikona curriculum based on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Early Years Foundation Stage of the UK and Early Years Learning Framework of Australia. All our over 400 pre-primaries will have an Immersive Spa to support children’s socio-emotional development. We have also introduced the Froebel-based coding curriculum which is a non-digital curriculum that uses Froebel’s gifts and other toys” — Dr. Swati Popat Vats, president, Podar Education Network which has 400 owned and franchised preschools countrywide (14,000 children and 1,500 teachers) Teacher-Parent-Student Engagement Preschools which encourage and facilitate interaction and exchange of ideas between teachers, parents and children to enable holistic development of students. “The entire Chintels Group of Schools is honoured by the India #1 rank conferred by the EW grand jury under this important parameter. It is endorsement of our belief that deep, constructive synergy between teachers, students and parents is vital for the holistic development of youngest children. Our parents trust and fully support the management and teachers to implement innovative pedagogies and activities. The objective of parents and teachers is children’s nurturance and all-round development. We are fortunate that our parents — including male parents — participate in school activities and collaborate with teachers to organise extra-curricular programmes” — Meenal Sarna, headmistress, The Chintels Preschool, Kanpur (540 children and 38 teachers) Future-Ready Preschools Pre-primaries which have demonstrated high potential to quickly adopt, upgrade and integrate 21st-century ECCE best practices. “We are humbled that a high-powered EW…