Page 200 - EducationWorld November 2020

Cover Story EW CO-ED DAY-CUM-BOARDING SCHOOLS RANKINGS 2020-21

INDIA’S BEST DAY-CUM-BOARDING SCHOOLS

The country’s steadily multiplying older day-cum-boarding schools in this category are being
schools are being given stiff competition by newly promoted given stiff competition by newly-pro-
capital intensive globally benchmarked institutions which moted, capital-intensive, globally-
benchmarked institutions with excel-
offer children in the country’s fast growing cities day and lent infrastructure, contemporary
boarding options at attractive price points ICT (information communication
technologies)-enabled pedagogies
and state-of-the-art co-curricular
and sports facilities. Thus they offer
children of the rising middle class
in the country’s fast-growing cities
the best of both worlds — day and
boarding options — at attractive
price points.
Against this backdrop, with latter
day day-cum-boarding schools con-
tinuously innovating and upgrading,
and also offering daily and weekly
boarding options, it’s unsurprising
this is one of the most competitive
categories of the annual EW India
School Rankings survey. Therefore
this year, there is a major rearrange-
ment in the seating order at the Top
10 table.
The consistently high ranked
DPS, R.K. Puram, Delhi (DPS-
RKP) which was unseated from
SAI International founders Silpi & Bijaya Sahoo (right) with President Ram Nath Kovind its prime #1 position of 2016-17
and 2017-18 position by Modern
hen day schools The Delhi Public School, R.K. School, Barakhamba (Delhi)
acquire good Puram, Delhi, is a prime example last year, is back at #1 with the lat-
reputation for of an essentially day school trans- ter ranked #3 by this year’s sample
Wproviding excellent formed into a day-cum-boarding respondents. However this year,
education or boarding schools in school, and Bishop Cotton Boys DPS-RKP (estb.1972) is obliged to
fast-growth tier-II and tier-III towns School (BCBS), Bengaluru, of share its #1 ranking with a surprising
experience strong pressure from the a quintessential boarding school outlier — the new genre SAI Inter-
local population for admission, they (estb.1865) gradually transforming national, Bhubaneswar (SAII,
transform into day-cum-boarding into a day-cum-boarding institution estb.2008).
schools. This genre of primary- and subsequently into an over- Although the CBSE-affiliated SAII
secondary schools provides access to whelmingly day school. Although is by all metrics a comprehensively
children from remote, under-served BCBS continues to admit boarders, contemporary, capital-intensive
parts of every state to high quality their number is disproportionately school, its location in non-metro
school education. Conversely as small and for the past decade, this Bhubaneswar weighs against it.
tier-II and tier-III cities and towns school is ranked in the category of Quite obviously, this hardly two-
grew and expanded into populous boys day schools in the annual Edu- decades-old school has won an
administrative capitals of state cationWorld India School Rankings excellent reputation in eastern
governments, boarding schools (EWISR). India where sample respondents
experienced heavy pressure to admit Another feature of the country’s have awarded it top score under the
day scholars and transform into day- steadily multiplying day-cum-board- parameter of academic reputation,
cum-boarding schools. ing schools is that older, established and high scores for co-curricular and

200 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2020