The citizenry of this port city is inclined to be steadfast in its choices and loyal in its preferences. This perhaps explains why the pecking order of the first seven preschools in the EW-C fore league table 2011 is exactly congruent with last year’s
Widely considered culturally and socially more conservative than India’s other metropolitan cities, the southern port city of Chennai (pop. 5 million) is also inclined to be steadfast in its choices and loyal in its preferences. This perhaps explains why the pecking order of the first seven preschools in the EW-C fore league table in 2011 is exactly congruent with last year’s. All the early childhood education (ECE) institutions ranked 1-7 in 2010 are ranked the same this year. Yet in sharp contrast, the eight and ninth ranked preschools — Visva Vidya Mandir (VVM)-Little Millennium (hitherto Roots to Wings), Anna Nagar and Hansel and Gretel, T. Nagar — which were unranked in last year’s league table, have made a conspicuous debut in the Top 10.
“This indicates that upscale SEC A citizens of Chennai are discriminating and not blindly loyal. It also perhaps explains why they change the state government every five years,” quips Premchand Palety, the promoter chief executive of C fore whose field researchers quizzed 236 fees-paying parents and 41 principals in Chennai to rate the city’s top 20 preschools on ten parameters including teacher compe-tence, infrastructure, individual attention to students, play equipment and safety and hygiene. The scores or ratings awarded under each parameter by the sample respondents were than aggregated to arrive at a total score according to which the city’s Top 20 preschools are ranked inter se.
The management of Vael’s Billabong High-Kangaroo Kids, Neelankarai (KKN), which has been ranked Chennai’s No.1 preschool for the second year in succession, has no cause to complain about the discriminating loyalty of the city’s SEC A citizens. Rated decisively first on the parameters of teacher competence, safety and hygiene and leadership quality, KKN has clearly impressed the parents and educators community with the high quality of early childhood education it delivers.
Promoted in 2004 by the Vael’s Education Trust (regd.1992), KKN currently has an aggregate enrolment of 300 pupils mentored by 36 teachers. “It’s wonderful to learn that KKN has been reconfirmed as Chennai’s premier preschool for the second year in a row. We believe in transforming the potential of our children into reality by equipping our teachers with latest pedagogies and technology, and assessing them contin-uously. The result is that any child who steps into our campus can immediately experience a stress-free and joyous learning environment which will enable her to become a secure and confident learner,” says Arthi K. Ganesh, a computer applications and education graduate of Madras and Lucknow universities, master franchisee of KKN (tuition fee: Rs.48,000-54,000 per year) and trustee of the Vael’s Education Trust.
The EW-C fore Survey of India’s Most Admired Preschools 2011 has delighted the management of Chennai’s VVM-Little Millennium School, Anna Nagar (promoted in 2009 as Roots to Wings, the preschool franchise of the ICT education heavyweight Educomp Solutions Ltd), even more because unranked last year, this preschool has debuted at No. 8 in the 2011 Chennai league table. “We feel honoured that our preschool which is just 30 months old, has made it into the Top 10 list. This major achievement would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our teachers who consider the school their second home,” says Abirami Vivek, the promoter-franchisee of VVM-Little Millennium.
Unsurprisingly, Vivek is chuffed that although ranked No. 8 on the league table, parents and educators of the port city have ranked VVM-Little Millen-nium No. 2 on the parameter of teacher competence, and highly on the para-meters of individual attention to students (No. 3) and parental involvement (5). “We carefully recruit teachers on the basis of their qualifications and after ensuring that they love children. Moreover we maintain a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:10 which ensures that every child gets adequate attention and we welcome parents to involve themselves with all activities of the school,” says Vivek who reveals that she plans to promote more preschools in Chennai “to meet the rising demand for quality preschool education”.
Chennai's best preschools league table userfiles/Chennai-table.pdf
Parameters of Excellence: Chennai's Top Preschools userfiles/Chennai-Parameters of Excellence.pdf