In another departure from previous practice, the EducationWorld Schools Survey 2008 acknowledges that international schools — defined as primary/secondaries affiliated with offshore examination boards such as the International Baccalaureate Organisation, Geneva (IBO), Cambridge International Examinations, UK (CIE) or the Middle States Association (USA) — are sui generis, i.e a distinct category and deserve to be ranked separately inter se.
Distinguished by their avant garde curriculums, contemporary IT-enabled pedagogies and capital-intensive infrastructure, they shouldn’t be mixed up as they were last year with day and traditional boarding schools. That’s probably why even vintage international schools highly admired by the cognoscenti such as Woodstock School, Mussoorie (estb.1854) and Kodaikanal International (estb.1901) didn’t figure in the 2007 rankings at all. Wiser for the experience, this year genuinely (rather than self-proclaimed) international schools were classified and ranked separately.
And unsurprisingly these two vintage schools topped the rankings of the 18 generally low-profile international schools, of whom there was sufficient awareness within the sample respondents base for rating and ranking purposes. (Schools had to be known by more than 25 sample respondents to be rated). Woodstock and KIRS were followed in the composite national league table by the Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore which achieved the highest rating among international schools countrywide on the parameter of faculty competence, and the Ooty-based Good Shepherd International School. Other institutions ranked among the Top 10 were the British and American schools in Delhi; Hebron, Ooty; the newly-promoted Dhirubhai Ambani International, Mumbai and the higher secondary Mahindra United World College, Pune.
Moreover other international schools which have begun to receive golden opinions are Bangalore International, TISB and Indus, all sited in Bangalore; Podar World School, Mumbai, and Trivandrum International (estb.2003). “The survey based on a knowledgeable respondents base clearly indicates that Woodstock prepares students academically, emotionally, socially and ethically for a rapidly changing world in which India is emerging as an economic leader. At Woodstock we take particular pride in our balance of national and international staff, which is reflected in the high rating we have received in the survey on the parameter of faculty competence. We are actively planning major developments over the next few years which will have a significant impact on the quality of our educational provision, and will enable Woodstock to remain at the forefront of international education in India for many years to come,” says David Laurenson, former professor of education at Queen’s College, New York, who took office as principal of the country’s most respected international school in July this year.
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