Parental godsend

Kudos to EducationWorld (September) for taking the initiative to rank K-12 schools in India. The parameters are really thorough and tables easy to read. This issue is a godsend to parents looking for an appropriate school for their children. Also the fact sheet which you have introduced, gives another dimension to the perceptual survey.Tanya B. on e-mail Urban bias I want to highlight a few facts pertaining to your survey story ‘Indias most respected schools (EW September). According to your editorial comments, the massive ratings exercise was based on opinions collected from over 2,000 selected parents, principals, teachers and educationists spread across the country to rate and rank schools in their region according to carefully selected parameters. Also, you state that the opinion poll was conducted in 15 cities and education hubs in India. In this regard its wrong to assume that the leading educational schools are located only in metropolitan areas. I advise you to also focus attention on rural institutions of great repute. Why are schools in rural areas not better represented in your study? As well we wonder why the agency that conducted the opinion survey never bothered to visit our school or other rural schools which enjoy wide acceptance and appreciation among people in rural India. It is my great pleasure to invite the people concerned to make a visit to Coorg Public School and convince themselves of the high quality education we provide. Prof. M. D. Nanjunda Principal Coorg Public School, Kodagu Several rural/small town schools, including Rishi Valley School, Chitoor have been highly ranked – Editor Path-breaking survey Thanks for your path-breaking survey of Indias most respected schools 2009 (EW September), and congratulations to Shri Ram School, Delhi; Doon, Dehradun; and Woodstock, Mussoorie for retaining their No.1 positions. Im particularly happy that the survey respondents voted institutions which are not academics-obses-sed cram schools to the top of the league tables. At last parents and educators seem to be becoming aware that real education is more than rote learning and passing exams. Holistic development of children requires schools to pay equal attention to extra-curricular and sports education. And schools which do this dont necessarily need to compromise on academic standards. The excellent academic reputation of Doon and Woodstock demonstrates that a balance can be struck between extra-curricular education and academics. Sanjay Malhotra Delhi Questionable criteria Re your cover story ‘Indias most respected schools (EW September), we were surprised and disappointed by your statement: Among the schools which for mysterious reasons have slipped badly in the international schools league table this year are Good Shepherd International School, Ooty, demoting us from 3rd to 5th place. We request you to visit our school or send the concerned personnel or agencies for verification before judging us. Under the parameter of academic reputation we have slipped from rank 2 to 4, though our results are excellent and we are proud to say that we admit children with varied ability levels and produce outstanding results. Likewise, under the parameter of…