Page 58 - Education World Dec 2021

Cover Story EW BOYS BOARDING SCHOOLS RANKINGS 2021 22

INDIA’S PREMIER BOYS BOARDING SCHOOLS

Since the unlamented
departure of Brits from
Indian shores 74 years ago,
India’s legacy boarding
schools have thrived and
developed their own unique
personalities, notably
distinct from the indelible
snobbery of their British
counterparts

lthough the almost 200
years (1757-1947) of Brit-
ish rule over India divided
Athe subcontinent into two
mutually hostile nations, and ruined
the material prosperity of the region The Doon School’s Dr. Jagpreet Singh (centre): first year restoration
which right until the early 19th cen-
tury contributed 20 percent of global ( T D S ) , promoted in 1935 by Calcutta- these revisionary appointments didn’t
GDP — annual GDP growth averaged based nationalist barrister S.R. Das as go down well with the K-12 education
a mere 1 percent during the Raj era an alternative for Indian upper middle savvy sample respondents of the an-
— Brits did leave behind some valu- class households whose children suf- nual EducationWorld India School
able legacies — railways, a functional fered racial discrimination from older, Rankings (estb.2007) which over
police and justice system, and the vintage boys boarding schools sited in the years has matured into the larg-
unifying English language. To this the hills of Darjeeling, Shimla, Ooty est and most sophisticated schools
list add the country’s vintage boys and other summer watering holes rankings survey worldwide. In 2014,
boarding schools normatively sited in of the British Raj. Although to their TDS lost its premier #1 rank to Bishop
salubrious hill stations and modelled credit these vintage boys boarding Cotton, Shimla and in 2019-20 it was
on imperial Great Britain’s famous schools of the colonial era have also co-ranked #1 with the Scindia School,
public (i.e, private, exclusive) boys’ evolved and developed their own In- Gwalior (SSG) and in 2020-21 it was
boarding primary-secondaries such dian personalities, with unique blends ranked #2 after SSG.
as Eton, Harrow, Winchester which of East and West, TDS has captured Evidently this demotion of TDS
nurtured the enduring British upper the imagination of post-independence from its customary presiding position
class that ruled the largest empire in India’s upper and upwardly mobile at top table didn’t go down well with
global history. middle classes who believe in the the high-powered board of governors
Since the unlamented departure proven benefits of away-from-home of the school. In March 2020, Raggett
of Brits from Indian shores 74 years boarding school education. was sacked while vacationing in Eu-
ago, India’s legacy boarding schools However during the past decade, rope midway through his second term.
have thrived and developed their own the board of governors of TDS blot- And after a nationwide (cf. previously
unique personalities, notably distinct ted the school’s nationalist creden- global) search, in July D r. J a g p re e t
from the indelible snobbery of their tials by ill-advisedly appointing two S in g h , a former housemaster of TDS
British counterparts. This is evidenced expatriate British educators — Peter and high-ranked Mayo College and
by the continuous domination of the Mclaughlin and Matthew Raggett at that time principal of the superb-
boys boarding school league table by — educators of no special merit, as ly equipped Punjab Public School,
the T h e D oon S c h ool , D e h ra du n headmasters of the school. Evidently, Nabha (estb.1960) which he quickly

58 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2021