Rishi Valley ends Doon's legacy as best boarding

New Delhi: The Shri Ram School in Delhi, Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh Chittoor and the Woodstock School in Mussoorie have been voted India's most respected day, boarding and international schools in the EducationWorld-C fore Schools Survey 2011.

The survey has also effectively ended the four-year reign of Doon School, Dehradun (TDS) as the country's most respected traditional/legacy boarding school. The school boasts of many eminent students such as Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and historian Ram Chandra Guha.

The survey conducted by the Delhi-based opinion polling and market research agency C Fore (Centre for forecasting and research) polled a mix of 2,044 fees-paying parents, principals, teachers and educationists in 16 cities across the country asking them to rate 404 of India's most well-known schools on 14 parameters including academic reputation, quality of co-curricular and sports education, infrastructure, leadership/management, quality of alumni and faculty competence, disabled friendliness, teacher welfare and development among other attributes.

Doon topped the list in 2008 and 2009 and in 2010 shared top billing with the alternate-style Rishi Valley School. TDS now shares second rank with the Mayo College Girls, Ajmer.

The third slot is also shared by Welham Girls, Dehradun and Bishop Cotton School, Shimla with Lawrence, Sanawar and Daly College, Indore retaining their No. 4 and 5 ranking of last year.

The surprise entry this year in the top 10 is the Orchid International, Nasik. The Assam Valley School, Balipara has also moved up the league table from No. 7 to 6.

On the other hand Sherwood College, Nainital, Lawrence, Lovedale, St. Paul's, Darjeeling and Welham Boys, Dehradun - highly respected schools of more than a century vintage - have yielded ground to newer entrants with alternative style.

"Although we don't accord much weightage to the ratings and rankings of education institutions, it's encouraging to learn that there is a discernible shift in the mindset of the knowledgeable public in favour of so-called alternate, new age school education," Siddharth Menon, the principal of RVS was quoted as saying by the Education World.

In day schools, Shri Ram School, Delhi with an aggregate score of 1,293 dislodged Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai to be ranked first in India and the north zone. It is followed by Cathedral and John Connon School (1,292) and Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore (1,291) and Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan School, Chennai jointly ranked third all-India and first in the south zone.

Thirty-three new genre international schools were rated and ranked across 15 parameters of education provision. This year, the Woodstock School, Mussoorie has vaulted to the top slot in this category, besting its former affiliate Kodaikanal International School (KIS) to be voted the most admired school in this category. EducationWorld is an education news and analysis magazine.