When children start learning together from young age, male children in particular, learn the virtues of empathy, respect and gender egalitarianism from their early years. Therefore it is a sign of progress that the league table of co-ed day schools — of sufficiently high repute to be ranked — is the longest in EWISR 2024-25

The best antidote to the rash of crimes against women that is dominating media headlines countrywide, is high quality K-12 education, especially co-ed education. When children start learning together from young age, male children in particular, learn the virtues of empathy, respect and gender egalitarianism from their early years. In the circumstances, it is a sign of progress that the league table of co-ed day schools — of sufficiently high repute to be ranked — is the longest in the EducationWorld India School Rankings 2024-25, which since they were initiated in 2007 have evolved into the world’s largest and most comprehensive schools ranking annual survey.

In the 2024-25 national league table of 3,000 co-ed day schools, there has been considerable churn this year because our new market research agency, the Bangalore-based A.Z. Research Partners which conducted this year’s survey after termination of our association with the Delhi-based C fore early this year, has sampled a broader respondents’ database.
Hitherto sample respondents were drawn from SEC (socio-economic category) ‘A’ — upper middle and elite classes in terms of income and social status. For EWISR 2024-25, the sample respondents is more broad-based, a mix of SEC ‘A’ and SEC ‘B’ respondents. Therefore, there’s considerable rearrangement of seating in the 2024-25 co-ed day schools national, states and city league tables.

This year, the Bangalore-based Inventure Academy (IA, estb.2005), ranked #3 in 2023-24 and among the Top 5 for several years, is ranked India’s #1 co-ed day school with top scores under six parameters — teacher welfare & development, sports education, curriculum & pedagogy HOTS (higher order thinking skills) infrastructure, special needs education and community service — of the 14 parameters of school education excellence ideated by EducationWorld.

“It’s been a long wait for Inventure to attain its rightful place at the very top of the EWISR national league table and validation of our mission set 21 years ago to ‘empower learners to realise their full potential, ignite change and create positive impact on society’. And by learners, we mean teachers and students,” says Nooraine Fazal, Managing Trustee of IA. An alumna of Mount Carmel College, Bangalore and Boston University, Fazal acquired over a decade’s communications and admin experience with the transnational Reuters Group during postings in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sydney and Hong Kong before returning to India to co-promote (with Prestige Estates) the CISCE and Cambridge International (UK)-affiliated Inventure Academy, Bangalore.

Fazal is especially pleased with the top scores awarded to IA under the parameter of teacher welfare and development, because this K-12 school invests heavily in teacher training with all teachers obliged to experience 20 days per year of team-building and leadership dispensed by the faculty of the top-ranked University of Pennsylvania (USA). Ditto for curriculum and pedagogy development, as a member institution of the US-based NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges), IA draws heavily upon this association for continuous curriculum upgradation.

“We believe in strong partnerships to develop curriculums that provide thoroughly holistic education — IA has won over 100 inter-school sports championships — for developing the multiple intelligences of our students. The top score awarded to us under the community service parameter is also well-deserved. We have adopted a government school whose enrolment has risen from 200 in 2019 to 1,000 currently with the pass percentage of children in the state board exam improving from single digits to 72 percent this year. Moreover, our students are highly engaged with government school children in reading and maths buddy programmes,” says Fazal, a former member of Karnataka state cricket and basketball teams and a top-ranked golfer currently.

With Inventure Academy promoted to the head of top table, Vasant Valley School, Delhi has been pushed to #2 (cf. #1 in 2023-24) while Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania, Mumbai is promoted to #3 (4). Yet the most notable feature of this year’s league table is the dramatic leap forward in informed public esteem of the Shiv Nadar School, Gurugram to #4 (14) and of Suncity School, Gurugram to #5 (15). Top table is completed by Vidyashilp Academy Bangalore at #4 (5), Heritage Experiential, Gurugram co-ranked #5 (2) with Step-by-Step, Noida (2) which has suffered a setback after several years of presiding at top table.

Unsurprisingly Monica Sagar, Director of the Shiv Nadar School, Gurugram (SNS, estb.2012), is thrilled with the huge promotion this year’s sample respondents have awarded this low-profile, superbly equipped CBSE and IB (Geneva)-affiliated school promoted by reclusive tech billionaire Shiv Nadar (HCL Technologies Ltd) a decade ago. SNS has been promoted from below salt to top table with excellent scores under the parameters of teacher welfare & development, co-curricular education & internationalism, curriculum & pedagogy (digital readiness), parental involvement and infrastructure.

“The differentiating feature of SNS is that through our several Aha! programmes we provide children a thoroughly integrated and well-balanced learning experience. This is reflected in our high scores under the parameters of co-curricular education and internationalism and curriculum and pedagogy including digital learning for which we follow the IT curriculum of the globally top-ranked MIT, Boston. Our high score for parental involvement is also well-merited because our Parents Collective is deeply engaged with the school and in collaboration with teachers stages an annual play, and runs several clubs including book reading, music promotion and culinary arts. Likewise, the high score for infrastructure is apposite because our founder-promoters have spared no expense to provide for a wide range of co-curricular activities and for every possible game and sport including fencing and shooting,” says Sagar, an economics postgrad of Punjab University and former vice principal of the high-ranked The Shri Ram School, Delhi who signed up with SNS in 2013 and is now Director of SNS and the top-ranked preschool, Magic Years, acquired by the Shiv Nadar Foundation in 2021. Currently, the CBSE and IB (Geneva) affiliated SNS has 2,100 students mentored by 300 teachers on its muster rolls.

Jubilation is also reportedly the reigning sentiment in the Suncity School, Gurugram (SSG, estb.2006) the flagship institution of the Suncity Group of four schools reportedly promoted by the Essel Group, a big name in the entertainment and packaging industries, in this fast-developing city in Delhi NCR. Ranked #17 in 2022-23 and #15 last year, SSG has vaulted to #5 and a place at top table in the EWISR 2024-25 national league table of co-ed day schools.

“Right from the start we have accorded very high priority to the welfare and continuous development of our teachers. As a result SSG teachers are routinely invited to develop and write textbooks for NCERT, and the Union education ministry. For instance CBSE’s international curriculum has been developed by SSG teachers. I am also excited to learn about our high score under the parameter of individual attention to students. We maintain a 1:10 teacher-pupil ratio and run a special programme for TAG (talented and gifted) children under Microsoft guidelines with SSG perhaps the first school worldwide to establish a Multiple Intelligences lab,” says Rupa Chakraborty, an English and botany postgrad of Calcutta University with IIM-A certification in leadership, founder-principal of SSG and Group Director of Suncity Schools which have an aggregate enrolment of 4,500 students mentored by 375 teachers.

Further down, the Top 10 table is completed by Nirmal Bhartia School ranked #6 (cf. #7 in 2023-24) co-ranked with Jamnabai Narsee, Mumbai (7), The Shri Ram School Vasant Vihar/Moulsari, Delhi at #7 ranked jointly with Springdales, Dhaula Kuan, Delhi (10), Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Delhi #8 (6) co-ranked with CHIREC International, Hyderabad (9), The KFI School, Adyar, Chennai # 8 (9) jointly ranked with the Suchitra Academy, Hyderabad (13). The Top 10 national league table of co-ed schools is completed by The Heritage School, Kolkata at #10 (11) jointly ranked with Lakshmipat Singhania, Kolkata (11).

Further down this year’s 3,000-strong league table of India’s most admired co-ed day schools, several institutions have been awarded substantial promotions by this year’s informed sample respondents. Among them: Gyanshree, Noida promoted to #15 (18); Children’s Academy, Mumbai to #17 (20); Chitkara International, Chandigarh to #18 (21) and #1 in Punjab and Chandigarh.

“It means a lot to our entire school community that EducationWorld has acknowledged our dedicated effort spanning 20 years to develop Chitkara International School (CIS) into Punjab and Chandigarh’s #1 co-ed day school. As indicated by the high scores under infrastructure, co-curricular and sports education, parental involvement, special needs education and community service parameters, CIS is above all a happy school with our special Happiness Curriculum endorsed by the Dalai Lama. I believe that our score under the teacher welfare and development parameter should be higher, because uniquely our teachers deeply research curriculum innovation for which CIS has been granted 18 patents. They have ensured that our children have high IQ, EQ, Skill Q, Happiness Q and Technology Q. Therefore all our stakeholders are very proud that CIS is ranked the #1 co-ed day school of the very modern city of Chandigarh and Punjab state,” says Dr. Niyati Chitkara, a commerce and education alumna of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and Punjab universities and Director of CIS, Chandigarh and CIS Panchkula. Currently, the two CBSE-affiliated schools have 1,906 students mentored by 108 teachers on their muster rolls.

For parents and senior students, a caveat that requires reiteration is that for all day schools — co-ed, boys and girls — city rank is of utmost importance because it’s highly unlikely that parents will migrate from their places of work to enrol their children in nationally top-ranked schools. That’s why in the order of presentation of all day school league tables in the annual EWISR, city rankings are followed by state and national rankings. Therefore it’s important to bear in mind that co-ed day schools modestly ranked nationally may well be top-ranked in their host cities and states some of whom are more populous than European countries.

For instance, the Sir Padampat Singhania Education Centre, ranked #33 nationally is ranked #1 in Kanpur and Uttar Pradesh (pop.238 million), Shishukunj International School, ranked #36 nationally is ranked #1 in Indore and Madhya Pradesh. Likewise, the Maharajah Sewai Mansingh Vidaylaya, Jaipur is ranked #1 in the Pink city and Rajasthan (pop. 83 million) and DPS, Patna ranked #59 in India is #1 in Patna and Bihar (pop. 130 million).

Therefore parents seeking the most suitable day schools for their children are advised not only to study the city ranks of schools, but also the parameters under which they have been awarded high scores. It’s quite possible — indeed probable — that higher ranked schools may have lower scores in parameters of school excellence that are most suitable for your children.