Although there is little evidence of the long promised poriborton (change) in the state’s education system, spared the regulatory attention of the neta-babu brotherhood, fully autonomous private pre-primaries are thriving in Kolkata. Here are Kolkata’s top-ranked preschools 2017-18: In 2011 when the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) routed the CPM (Communist Party of India)-led Left Front government in the West Bengal legislative assembly election, ending 34 years of uninterrupted communist rule in the state, it promised poriborton (change) in the state’s education system. Returned to power in 2016 for a second consecutive term, the TMC reaffirmed its promise of radical reform and upgradation of West Bengal’s education sector, decimated by over three decades of communist rule. Unfortunately, seven years later the TMC government has done little to initiate root and branch reform of the state’s school and higher education systems plagued by teacher recruitment scandals and rampant campus violence. However, within the early childhood care and education (ECCE) sector, which is spared the regulatory attention of the huge army of notoriously extortionist government inspectors and levelling down politicians countrywide, fully autonomous private pre-primaries in Kolkata, the state’s admin capital, are thriving. With rising awareness within the city’s middle class of the importance of high-quality ECCE in preparing children to derive the full benefit of school and higher education, during the past decade a rising tribe of edupreneurs have promoted contemporary pre-primaries — proprietary and franchised — offering professionally delivered ECCE to young parents in this eastern metropolis (pop. 15 million). Proprietary/owned For the past four years, Mongrace Montessori House (MMH), Short Street has effortlessly held on to its ranking as Kolkata’s #1 preschool. However this year, the city’s 627 sample respondents comprising 548 parents with children in pre-primaries and 79 principals/teachers have voted it the city’s #1 proprietary preschool with a substantially reduced victory margin. The pre-primary that is giving one of Kolkata’s oldest preschools (estb. 1964) a run for its money is the affiliated Mongrace Montessori House, New Town (estb. 2010) which has steadily climbed up the league table of Kolkata’s most admired preschools from #7 in 2014 to #3 in 2016 and is ranked #2 this year. “We are very happy that both our branches — Short Street and New Town — are ranked #1 and #2 in Kolkata. This has been made possible by our committed team of teachers who continuously strive for excellence; our ever willing-to-learn children and involved parents, and the continuous support of Shanta Ghosh, managing trustee of the Suresh Amiya Memorial Trust which runs both our preschools. I’m particularly pleased with MMH’s top rank for teacher competence and development as it’s acknowledgement of our special focus on continuous teacher training. As one of the city’s first Montessori pre-primaries, we have also taken the lead in raising ECCE standards by helping to set up the Kolkata chapter of the Early Childhood Association this year. We also run an afternoon shift for under-privileged children and have made plans to adopt a government anganwadi,” says Suman…
