Day-cum-boarding schools offer a win-win proposition: day scholars benefit from the excellent infrastructure and sports facilities built for boarders, the latter by way of student body diversity. Therefore it’s unsurprising that the number of international day-cum-boarding schools is rising countrywide year on year.

International day-cum-boarding schools are the glamour section of the annual EW India School Rankings. Sited on sprawling campuses bristling with state-of-the-art infrastructure on the outskirts of metros and big cities, they admit day scholars and boarders, and offer transformative pedagogies, academic, co-curricular and sports education facilities of global standards and high-quality teachers, often expatriate headmasters. Another win-win proposition is that day scholars benefit from the excellent infrastructure and sports facilities built for boarders, the latter by way of student body diversity.

Therefore, it’s unsurprising that the number of international day-cum-boarding schools countrywide is rising year on year. Against 28 schools ranked in this category in 2016-17, the number has risen to 45 in EWISR 2023-24. Moreover, their increasing popularity within the country’s upper middle class has prompted globally renowned foreign boarding schools to set up shop in India.

Last month, Harrow School (estb.1572), the world-famous British boys boarding school which has 12 campuses worldwide, inaugurated its first India co-ed boarding campus in Bengaluru in partnership with the Amity Group, offering day and weekly boarding options. Likewise, Wellington College, another venerable British boarding school (estb.1853), inaugurated a day-cum-boarding campus in Pune on September 14, in partnership with the Dehradun-based Unison Group.

Since they are barely a few months old, these mint-new day-cum-boarding schools have not been included in the EWISR 2023-24 field survey which concluded in July-August. However, they are likely to disrupt the league table of India’s best international day-cum-boarding schools next year.

Meanwhile, the EWISR 2023-24 league table of international day-cum-boarding schools has a placid deja vu about it. This year’s 18,928 sample respondents polled by the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting and Research (C fore) have again voted Indus International School, Bengaluru India’s #1 international day-cum-boarding school awarding it the highest score among all categories of international schools, followed by Pathways World School, Gurgaon, ranked #2 jointly with The International School Bangalore and Greenwood High International, Bengaluru at #3.

Despite the International Baccalaureate (IB)-affiliated Indus International School, Bengaluru (IIS-B, estb.2003) having topped this category for over a decade, principal Sarojini Rao expresses delight that IIS-B is ranked India #1 for the 12th consecutive year with top scores under the parameters of teacher welfare and development, leadership/management quality, community service and curriculum and pedagogy across all categories of international schools.

“The unique proposition of IIS-B is that we are continuously innovating to become future-ready. IIS-B is one of 13 schools worldwide and only one in India selected by IB to partner with OECD countries for education innovation. We are the first school in India to introduce robots as teaching assistants in classrooms, design a unique entrepreneurial skills development curriculum and set up a fully-fledged research unit to study education best practices. Our top score for teacher development and curriculum and pedagogy innovation is endorsement of these initiatives. We have reimagined the role of the teacher to not merely teach subjects but to unlock the true potential of every student while simultaneously enabling her socio-emotional development. It’s also very satisfying to learn that we have regained our #1 rank under the parameter of leadership/management quality which is a tribute to the vision of Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray, CEO of Indus Trust,” says Rao, an economics and education alumna of Pune and Annamalai universities and principal of IIS-B since 2005. Currently, IIS-B has 1,200 students and 148 teachers on its muster rolls.

IIS-B apart, the Indus Trust’s other schools have also done well to retain their national Top 5 positions. Indus International, Pune has retained its India #4 ranking while Indus, Hyderabad is ranked #5 (#4) jointly with the Stonehill International School, Bengaluru (#6 last year). Moreover, the affiliated Indus Altum International School, Belagavi (estb.2019), which debuted at #10 last year, has been promoted to #8 in 2023-24.

Beyond the Top 5, there’s a minor rearrangement of seating order. Lancers International School, Gurugram has risen in public esteem to be ranked #5 (#8) as has the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, at #6 (#7) jointly with the Genesis Global School, Noida (#9) and Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur (#5). Sharanya Narayani International School, Bengaluru has advanced to #7 (#9) jointly with the Lalaji Memorial Omega International School, Chennai (#8). Indus Altum International School, Belagavi is ranked #8 (#10) followed by Srinidhi International School, Hyderabad at #9 (#13) and the Canadian International School, Bengaluru is jointly ranked #10 (#12) with the Sadhbhavana World School, Kozhikode (#10).

Lakshmi Reddy, trustee and director of academic programs at Sharanya Narayani International School (SNIS, estb.2015), Bengaluru, is “very pleased” that this IB-affiliated school has been steadily moving up the EWISR league table of India’s most admired international day-cum-boarding schools — from #14 in 2018-19 to #9 in 2022-23 and #7 this year.

“The steady ascent of SNIS in the transparent and trusted EWISR league tables is an honour for our entire school community. We are one of the city’s few IB continuum schools offering the primary years, middle years and IB diploma study programmes, and as such fully committed to providing globally benchmarked education. Our 60-acre modern campus provides excellent facilities for children encouraged to play at least two sports; our IBDP results are above global average with the highest score 43/45; and more important, our teacher-pupil ratio is 1:10 enabling our faculty to provide individual attention and mentoring to students. This explains why the EW survey respondents have awarded SNIS high scores under the parameters of individual attention to students, infrastructure provision, academic reputation, sports and co-curricular education,” says Reddy, an alumna of Houston Baptist and Houston universities with rich corporate experience in the US, Canada, Mexico, France, Argentina, and Colombia, who (together with husband Nagaraj) moved to India in 2008 to establish SNIS.

Likewise Dr. S. Bhavanishankar, director of the Lalaji Memorial Omega International School, Chennai (LMOIS, estb.2005), is very satisfied that the EWISR survey respondents have promoted this new millennium day-cum-boarding school to #8 nationally, and top-ranked it in Tamil Nadu (pop.67 million).

“This endorsement by knowledgeable K-12 education stakeholders will motivate all of us at LMOIS to strive for continuous improvement on all 14 benchmarks of school education excellence. I am especially pleased with our top scores under the parameters of academic reputation and social and mental well-being services. These two parameters are mutually reinforcing as social and emotional well-being is the prerequisite of learning. All our students practice heartfulness meditation and are encouraged to participate in co-curricular, sports and community outreach programmes. In fact, after the pandemic we have made special efforts to upgrade sports facilities and introduce several community service programmes,” says Bhavanishankar, an alum of Madras University and the Medical University of South Carolina, USA, and former principal of the well-reputed Chettinad Vidyashram, Chennai. Currently, this Cambridge and IB-affiliated K-12 day-cum-boarding school has 800 students on its musters.

Further down the 45-strong league table of India’s most admired international day-cum-boarding schools, several institutions have been awarded huge promotions. Among them: Kings College India, Rohtak, ranked #14 (#26 in 2022-23) jointly with Alphabet International School, Chennai (#21), Manchester International School, Coimbatore #15 (#23), Chettinad Sarvalokaa Education International, Chennai #16 (#20), The White School, Kozhikode #17 (#30) jointly with CPS Global School, Thirumazhisai (#28), and Rungta Public School, Bhilai to #20 (#29).

Several previously unranked schools have also debuted in the 2023-24 league table indicating rising public demand for day-cum-boarding schools providing international certification. They include Taktse International School, Gangtok at #24, Monte International School, Kurnool and Prudence International School, Panvel, Navi Mumbai jointly ranked #26, Sri Prakash Vidyaniketan, Visakhapatnam and Ameya World School, Visakhapatnam jointly ranked #28.