Page 137 - EducationWorld December 2022

Square Foundation (estb.2012), the
total number of private (including
government aided) schools in India is
450,000 with an aggregate enrolment
of 120 million students. The great ma-
jority of them are BPS whose number
is estimated at 400,000 by the Centre
for Civil Society (cited above). That 89
percent of private schools which have
nurtured post-independence India’s
350 million strong middle class are
BPS, underscores the critical role
they discharge within contemporary
India’s K-12 education system.
Therefore ab initio your editors
have acknowledged and highlighted
the important role of BPS within the
education system, and published sev-
eral lead features on their contribu-
tion to Indian education, and protect-
ed them from venal school inspectors
and education officials. Many BPS
have not been given official ‘recogni- children, and encourage budget pri- a BPS. A total of 2,512 respondents
tion’ by state governments for actual vate schools to continuously upgrade — 2,200 parents and 312 teachers —
and imagined infrastructure non- pedagogies and learning outcomes, were interviewed. Every respondent
compliance laws, from which govern- in 2015 we introduced the annual was shown a list of well-reputed BPS
ment schools are iniquitously exempt. EducationWorld India Budget Private in their cities and asked to award a
nder s.19 of the landmark School Rankings (EWIBPSR) survey score of 1-100 to schools they were
Right of Children to Free modeled on our comprehensive annu- aware of under 11 parameters of
U& Compulsory Education al EW India School Rankings Survey primary-secondary education excel-
(RTE) Act, 2009, private schools (EWISR, estb.2007). Thus for the past lence. The parameters of assessment
non-compliant with infrastructure seven years, we have beeNRating and are: competence of faculty, infrastruc-
norms prescribed in a special Sched- ranking BPS nationally, in their host ture, individual attention to students,
ule of the Act, are subject to heavy states and cities on several param- curriculum & pedagogy, co-curricular
fines with repeat offenders liable to eters of primary-secondary education activities, sports education, leader-
be shut down. However under s.18, excellence. ship, safety & hygiene etc. The scores
government schools are exempted In August this year, we commis- awarded by sample respondents to
from compliance with the infrastruc- sioned Centre for Forecasting & Re- schools under each parameter were
ture norms prescribed by s.19 and the search Pvt. Ltd (C fore, estb.2000), totaled to rank BPS nationally, in the
Schedule. the well-reputed Delhi-based market states and cities. Schools assessed by
Moreover despite the Supreme research and opinion polls company, less than 25 respondents were elimi-
Court (in T.M.A. Pai Foundation vs. to constitute a sample respondents nated from the rankings,” says Prem-
Union of India (2002)) having ruled database of parents and educators chand Palety, promoter-CEO of C
that private education institutions are and persuade them to rate the best fore, explaining the BPS evaluation
entitled to earn “reasonable” profit, BPS in their states and cities. Accord- and rankings methodology.
almost all state governments have ingly, 55 C fore field researchers in- In our October EWISR issue in
enacted legislation ‘regulating’ private terviewed sample respondents in 16 which we rated and ranked India’s
school fees, laws which hit BPS hard- cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolk- Top 4,000 schools in four main and 22
est. Consequently, in several cover ata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, sub-categories we included a league
and lead features, EducationWorld Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Lucknow, table of India’s Super 30 budget pri-
has highlighted this targeted discrimi- among others. vate schools, i.e, BPS with national/
nation, advocating a fair deal for BPS “The sample respondents com- regional reputation. In this issue, we
school promoters. prised BPS teachers and SEC (socio- present detailed league tables of other
Moreover to enable parents to se- economic category) ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ and most admired BPS nationally, in the
lect the most suitable BPS for their ‘E’ parents with at least one child in states and cities.

DECEMBER 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 135