Page 37 - EW October 2024

U ntil 2007 when the country’s most admired primary- obliged to learn best as they can in in-

EducationWorld (estb.
stitutions housed in decrepit buildings
secondary schools culminates in an
bereft of libraries, laboratories and
1999) ideated and
EWISR Awards event staged in Delhi
published the first-
ever EducationWorld NCR at which top-ranked schools in lavatories and suffer chronic teacher
absenteeism and rock-bottom learn-
every sub-category in 458 cities, 28
India School Rankings states and nationally, are felicitated ing outcomes. This monumental my-
of the Indian subcontinent, there was and awarded trophies and certificates. opia has transformed high-potential
little information in the public domain The process is onerous and expen- post-independence India into one of
about the country’s best schools. sive. Nevertheless, we have persisted the world’s poorest and most wretch-
Even excellent vintage schools such with it for almost two decades, come ed countries. Therefore, the prime ob-
as Lawrence Sanawar and Lovedale, rain or shine. That’s because in Edu- jective of promoting EducationWorld,
The Doon School, Bishop Cotton cationWorld, we truly value all educa- launched on the eve of the new millen-
(Shimla and Bengaluru), Welham tion institutions, especially the coun- nium, was to awaken official and pub-
Boys (Dehradun), Woodstock (Mus- try’s 1.6 million schools. lic opinion that this situation cannot
soorie) and Kodaikanal International, All over the country, principals, endure, and going forward, universal,
among others established during the teachers, parents and students are try- high-quality education — especially
heyday of the British Raj, were select- ing, often in the face of overwhelming K-12 education — must become the
ed for children of the well-to-do on odds, to light the lamp of knowledge #1 item on the national development
the basis of word-of-mouth informa- and learning which in our opinion, is agenda.
tion and/or legacy considerations, i.e, the non-negotiable pre-condition of Looking back, although universal
their parents were alumni. Little hard national development and advance- high quality school education has
information was available to compare ment. It’s a matter of deep regret that not become the national priority, it
and contrast the relative merits of the successive governments and members has certainly moved higher up on the
country’s best schools. As for the vast of the establishment have not grasped country’s development agenda. Cer-
majority of day schools, their reputa- this truism. That’s why the annual tainly there is new palpable awareness
tions were restricted to the cities and national (Centre plus states) outlay within the educators’ community and
towns in which they were sited. for public education has remained society that schooling the country’s
Therefore one of the first ma- mired in the 3.5 percent of GDP rut children needs to be given high atten-
jor initiatives of EducationWorld as against the 6 percent mandated by tion. And since the annual EWISR was
(EW), promoted 25 years ago, was the Kothari Commission way back in introduced in 2007, schools in every
to launch the EducationWorld In- 1967. category, sub-category, town and city
dia School Rankings (EWISR) to The consequence of foolish neglect countrywide, have begun to compete
enable parents to assess the relative of public education is that 52 percent to improve scores awarded under all
merits of schools in their cities and of children enrolled in government 14 parameters of school education ex-
beyond, on carefully ideated param- schools — the remaining 48 percent cellence which when added up deter-
eters of primary-secondary education are in private schools which offer mine national, state and city rankings.
excellence. This would enable them relatively superior education — are Unsurprisingly, the runaway suc-
to shortlist, even if not select, schools EW 2007 cover: continuous evolution cess of EducationWorld and the an-
best aligned with the aptitudes and nual EWISR has prompted several
special intelligences of their children. pretender publications to plagiarise
Since then, the annual EWISR pre- our design, architecture and method-
sented to the public uninterruptedly ology. Unable and/or unqualified to
for the past 17 years, has been con- match the intellectual content of EW,
tinuously refined and has evolved into several self-styled education maga-
the world’s — yes, the world’s — larg- zines are publishing pale imitations of
est and most comprehensive schools the annual EWISR. Although we are
ranking survey. This year’s EWISR not overly concerned (imitation being
rates over 4,000 schools under three the best form of flattery), the equiva-
major heads — day, boarding, and in- lence accorded by leaders of a surpris-
ternational — and 14 sub-categories ing number of top-ranked schools to
(to eliminate apples and oranges-type imitative cut-and-paste pretender
comparisons) in 458 cities and towns magazines is a matter of considerable
across India, a globally unprecedented disappointment.
initiative. Be that as it may, EWISR 2024-25
This process of rating and ranking is a watershed survey inasmuch as it

OCTOBER 2024 EDUCATIONWORLD 37