Rare gratitude

I wish to express my gratitude for publishing the EducationWorld India School Rankings 2012 (September). Your commentary on the changing expectations of parents about school education is insightful and encouraging for the teachers community. The prominence given to views of eminent school and education leaders will definitely help to influence the future direction of primary-secondary education. I specially appreciated the views of the principals of the Krishnamurti Foundation schools and of the Rishi Valley School in particular, which are good for our society. I also appreciate that your assessment methodology and analysis are improving year on year. This is a good sign for your magazine as well as for K-12 education. My compliments to all your team members for good work. Thank you for helping school educators and principals by raising public awareness of vital education issues.  Sundar Gandikota Principal, Orchid International School Nashik Unfair survey Although i convey my heartiest congratulations for publishing the EducationWorld India School Rankings 2012 (EW September), I wish to place on record my dissatisfaction with the scores given to SAI International School, Bhubaneswar and want to draw your attention to the following facts. • Teachers’ welfare: SAI offers excellent remuneration with maximum perquisites to all teachers. • Co-curricular activities: We provide a wide array of co-curricular activities with an extra hour set aside for them every day. • Sports: This is given top importance with students mandatorily required to engage in sports and games for an hour every day. In national and state-level tournaments in cricket, lawn tennis, table tennis, football, volleyball and swimming, our students have regularly bagged top prizes. • Internationalism: SAI is an IGCSE-affiliated school and our students are required to compulsorily write the Cambridge ESOL examination. Every year the school hosts two international events and four international exchange programmes. In January 2012, SAI hosted the Young Global Schools Summit, attended by 150 representative schools of India and Sri Lanka. Moreover, this school was recently conferred the International School Award of the British Council. • Community service: SAI’s Interact Club of Rotary International conducts community service programmes throughout the year. We have also adopted a government-run blind school, Patia village school, the Mother Teresa orphanage, etc. In future, we request you to conduct a fair survey based on facts. B.K. Sahoo Chairman, SAI International School, Bhubaneswar As explained in detail on pgs 42-43 of our cover story, the EW India School Rankings are based on the perceptions of 3,070 informed respondents, not facts — Editor Strong objection I read your cover story featuring the EducationWorld India School Rankings 2012 (EW September). To my astonishment, I found SAI International School, Bhubaneswar ranked below many other schools especially on the parameters of internationalism and sports. My child is a SAI student, and I feel obliged to inform you that the school is the British Council’s ambassador for the state of Odisha. It has been awarded ISA (International School Award) accreditation for 2010-13 and recently hosted the Young Global Schools Summit which was a grand success. To my knowledge DAV, Chandrasekharpur,…