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, learning assessment, best technology integration, social and emotional learning 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; Sumathi Ravichander, a Bangalore-based education consultant; and Dr. Maalathi K.R, founder and CEO, Aurro Educational Services, Chennai.

The Top 10 EW Grand Jury India Preschool Rankings 2023-24 are presented in the pages following.

India’s Most Respected Early Childhood Education Brand

Institutions which have made exceptional contribution to expansion and upgradation of early childhood care and education.

“We are elated with our ranking as India’s most respected early childhood education brand. It’s confirmation of our commitment to provide highest quality learning standards and development support to youngest children. Our age-appropriate curriculum ‘Kiducation’ is in total alignment with the National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage 2022. Ditto our child-friendly assessments system. In Podar Schools, we regard parents as partners and they actively engage in their children’s development. We have recently launched our Immersive SPA — Sensory Processing Activities, to develop the eight intelligences of our children. I thank the EW grand jury for acknowledging Podar Prep team’s continuing quest to provide the highest quality early childhood care and education to our children” — Swati Popat Vats, president, Podar Education Network (490 preschools, 40,000 pupils, and 10,000 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.

“We are honoured and blessed that the EW grand jury has conferred #1 rank under the important parameter of teacher-parent-student engagement on our pre-primary section. I believe that 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, and our teachers ensure that parents are well-informed and involved in children’s school activities. Recently, we introduced a Mothers’ Club which organises monthly parent engagement programmes” — Amarjyotiba Gohil, Director, Amarjyoti Saraswati International School, Bhavnagar (500 students and 40 teachers)

Future-Ready Preschools

Pre-primaries that have demonstrated high potential to quickly adopt, upgrade and integrate 21st-century ECCE best practices.

“Last year, Little Chipper was ranked among India’s Top 5 future-ready preschools. This year, we are ranked #1 — an exceptional honour not just for our team, but for the entire city of Agra! I attribute our rise in the EW league table to our dedicated focus on using experiential pedagogies to create stimulating environments in which children learn through play and enjoyable activities. This is supplemented by enabling infrastructure featuring cheerful classrooms, garden patio, a Makers Lab with 3D printing facilities, music and sports rooms, and AI-enabled art stations. We believe in the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen i.e, to constantly evolve and learn and are fully committed to integrating latest research and pedagogies in early childhood education” — Sonia Agarwal Bajaj (left), founder, Little Chipper International Preschool, Agra (75 pupils and 10 teachers)

Campus Design Excellence

Preschools that have built attractive and conducive campuses to enable children to learn joyfully and give their best.

“We are thrilled to be ranked #1 countrywide for campus design excellence. Providing a safe and secure campus is vital for enabling children to learn joyously. Our fully air conditioned 2,000 sq. yards campus comprises well-ventilated digitally-enabled classrooms, a state-of-the-art music room designed in collaboration with Torrens, and a play area with 25mm soft flooring for safety. We are the first preschool in Punjab to use an international learning-through-gaming module to improve children’s creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. We take pride in providing an exceptional campus environment to enable the all-round development of children” — Charu Behal, headmistress, Ivy World Play School, Ludhiana (84 students and 10 teachers)

Innovative Pedagogy

Preschools are judged on their success in creating innovative, child-friendly and age-appropriate digital curriculums and pedagogies.

“We are thrilled to be recognised India’s #1 preschool for innovative pedagogy. This award is the outcome of our commitment to continuously improve and push educational boundaries by keeping abreast with latest research in early childhood education to prepare our young learners for further education. Our early years curriculum is based on the UK’s International Early Years programme and is fully aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which encourages children to lead their own learning through open-ended explorative activities. I congratulate our dedicated team of teachers who are always eager to continue their professional and lifelong learning to design and implement innovative pedagogies. Enabling them with continuous professional development opportunities is at the heart of our future plans” — Arunabh Singh, director, Healthy Planet, Ghaziabad (256 pupils and 25 teachers)

Best Technology Integration

Preschools which have succesfully integrated new-age technologies usage with students and teachers encouraged to apply digital technology skills to enrich teaching-learning.

“We are overjoyed to be ranked India’s #1 preschool for best technology integration. We are wholly committed to using contemporary high-quality technology to provide enjoyable early childhood learning to our children and to equip our teachers with the skills to provide our children engaging learning experiences. For instance, our teachers use the tabbie math tool to teach foundational numeracy skills in an interesting and enjoyable way. We also have plans to introduce augmented reality to make learning more enjoyable for children” — P.L. Hemalatha, centre head, Kennedy’s Next-Gen Kids, Guntur (230 students and 20 teachers)

Health, Nutrition and Safety

Preschools which promote policies and systems to enable provision of safe and healthy learning environments and emergency care facilities.

“I am not surprised that the EW Grand Jury has ranked Podar Jumbo Kids Plus, Nallagandla #1 in the category of health, nutrition and safety. Providing a safe, hygienic learning environment for early learners is top priority for us. Ditto providing nutritious meals to our children. All meals comprise seasonal and locally grown vegetables and fruits, and healthy ingredients. The campus is under 24×7 CCTV surveillance with all staff fully trained in safety protocols. Moreover, the curriculum encourages physical activity with children engaging in enjoyable sports and games on our 9,000 sq. ft play area” — Bindu Gaddipatti (centre), director, Podar Jumbo Kids Plus, Nallagandla, Hyderabad (250 pupils and 30 teachers)

Outstanding Leadership

For early childhood education leaders of preschools who have displayed outstanding leadership in upgrading and improving their institutions.

“I am delighted and humbled that our preschool is ranked #1 for outstanding leadership. This acknowledgement underscores the unwavering commitment of our entire team to providing joyous early years education to pre-primary children. I would like to specially credit our motivated teachers, ever-supportive parents and management for their coordinated efforts which have enabled us to achieve this recognition. By encouraging participatory leadership that motivates teachers to innovate and continuously learn, we have succeeded in creating a learning environment that encourages out-of-the-box thinking and creativity, and nurtures the multiple intelligences of our children” — Supriya Malpani, principal, The Little Angels School, Gwalior (830 pupils and 50 teachers)

Nature-Friendly Preschools

Preschools which have environment-friendly campuses and promote classes / activities in open, outdoor green spaces.

“We are delighted to be ranked India’s #1 nature-friendly preschool. Since we promoted this preschool in 2011, we have been focused on developing TBS into a nature-friendly preschool in terms of campus facilities, pedagogies and school culture. Our campus hosts a variety of vertical gardens in which flowering plants attract butterflies and bees; a compost pit, rain barrels, and a designated corner for fire-less cooking. Children learn about loving and protecting nature and green sustainable practices in our organic garden patch, outdoor play area and nature-friendly classrooms” — Usha Iyer (centre), founder-director, The Bangalore School (200 students and 25 teachers)

Design Thinking Leaders

Preschools demonstrating extraordinary capability to break away from rote learning, and adopt pedagogies that encourage development of children’s creative thinking, collaborative and problem-solving skills.

“We are elated to be ranked India’s #1 preschool for design thinking by your eminent jury. It’s validation of our efforts to continuously enhance pedagogical practices and processes to provide an inclusive and stimulating learning environment to our preschoolers. Our Montessori curriculum provides an excellent foundational framework to develop children’s creative thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills from the early years. Our teachers use age-appropriate hands-on, inquiry and application-based pedagogies to stimulate and develop children’s higher order thinking skills. Moreover, our teachers actively collaborate with parents to reinforce our pedagogy beyond the classroom” — Priti Sait, co-founder, Legacy School Montessori, Bengaluru (135 pupils and 16 teachers)

Social & Emotional Learning

Preschools which prioritise social-emotional learning by incorporating activities that promote self awareness, empathy, emotional regulation and socialisation skills.

“We thank the EW grand jury of eminent early childhood educators for acknowledging the efforts of our teachers and support staff to provide a positive and inclusive learning environment where children’s emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills are nurtured. Social-emotional well-being of our children is a top priority for us with teachers paying special attention to developing the socialisation and communication skills of youngest children, encouraging them to express emotions freely, interact with peers, and develop a positive self-image. I believe our experiential curriculum, child-centric teaching-learning pedagogies, and positive pupil-teacher ratio, have all contributed to creating a joyous learning environment” — Chaitali Parekh, centre head, Witty World, Borivali, Mumbai (753 children and 53 teachers)

Learning Assessment Leaders

Preschools which provide non-stressful, holistic learning assessments to evaluate children’s progress and support their overall growth and development.

“We are humbled that the high-powered EW Grand Jury has ranked our pre-primary India’s #1 learning assessment leader. I believe this top rank is the outcome of our well-designed early years curriculum, innovative pedagogies and specially curated assessment systems that recognise and encourage all-round child development. We have taken great pains to design and implement child-friendly, non-stressful assessment systems which take children’s differing learning styles into account and continuously motivate them to learn and improve. Moreover, we maintain transparent communication with parents about our assessment practices to build better trust and understanding with them” — Aparna Gadkari, principal, CNS Preschool, Pune (330 pupils and 30 teachers)