MARKS MANIA? Schools in South-West Delhi are arguably the gold standard of education in the capital.
Will they succeed in their endeavour to shift the focus away from scoring 100%?

Schools in South-West Delhi bring along their own legacies. With an interesting mix of the old and the new -be it The Shri Ram School, Vasant Valley School or Delhi Public School -private institutions are holding fort here.
The brands run to all spheres. From established ones like the IIT or newer ones such as The Energy Resources Institute (TERI), several institutions have setup campuses. DLF has setup malls. The thappa here stands tall in an everchanging educational landscape.

This year's Hindustan Times--C Fore Top School survey results may not have differed drastically from last year's, but did make way for a new entrant-St. Mary's School. Situated in Safdarjung Enclave, the school has been run by the Santa Maria Education Society for the past 43 years. It scored second highest on the `safety and hygiene' parameter.

The aspirations, demands and performance of students, teachers and parents have changed too. A quick look at the parameters on which schools were evaluated shows this. If it's `competence of teachers' that's the deal maker for some parents, then The Shri Ram School, Vasant Vihar's number one ranking on this might be a comfort to many. DPS, R K Puram, on the other hand, tops the `academic rigour' category among others, pacifying those focussed on a child's performance in exams.

In an intensely competitive atmosphere where one is willing to do almost anything for that extra mark or the coveted colleg seat, schools here are deliberately trying to shift the focus and lighten this marks oriented classroom environment.

Jyoti Bose, Director, Springdales, Dhaula Kuan, has made a conscious decision to stay away from the numbers game. “We are not a school in the rat-race for marks. We choose not to be. We encourage the passions of students and believe in the cocurricular enhancing academic capability,“ she said. That is evident in the 13 clubs that the school offers its students ranging from UNESCO and Elocution to the Heritage Club. These are perhaps a contributing factor to its good performance in `extra-curricular activities' and `value system'.

The school, according to the present head girl, Saba Dave, “inculcates diversities and helps a student to find out what you are good at and carving your own niche“. The reason they can do this, feels her classmate, Anna Sinha is “only because, from day one, Springdales stresses on the importance of knowledge and not text books“.
THE CCE SAGA Introduction of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) isn't much of a game changer for schools here, as these methods of evaluation are old news here. Vasant Valley School, from its conception in 1990, has had it's version of CCE in place.

Mount St. Mary's, Parade Road echoes the same sentiment, with a long tradition of equal emphasis while evaluating everything from public speaking to mathematics. “At MSM, we develop as individuals because of the varied evaluation parameters,“ says Anirudh Chaudhary, a student at the school.

As the schools charge ahead with a definite thrust on allround development of their students, they aren't unaware of what problems plague the system now. Arun Kapur, Director, Vasant Valley aptly puts it, “We are an overschooled and under-educated society and we are working to change that“. THEY TOO MAKE THE GRADE...
They might have not made it to the top 10 but hold as much promise as their crowned counterparts. Here is a list of other options.

SCHOOLS TO LOOK OUT FOR
BLOOM PUBLIC SCHOOL VASANT KUNJ Bloom Public school was established in 1994 and has consistently given good academic results. The teachers here are known to be helpful, with the school investing in teacher-training programmes. The school also has a state-of-the-art Robotics lab.
AIR FORCE GOLDEN JUBILEE SUBROTO PARK This school caters to mainly Air Force personnel, with 70% of its students coming from that background. Apart from students who excel in the academic and extra-curricular fields, teachers too take part in a number of workshops and regular in-service training programmes organised by CBSE, NCERT, IAF etc.
RYAN INTERNATIONAL VASANT KUNJ Established in 1991, the school holds an excellent academic and co-curricularrecord, with its students having created a niche for themselves in technical and educational institutions in India and abroad. The school installed a recycling plant three years ago, to make children aware of the importance of protecting the environment.
MOUNT CARMEL SCHOOL ANAND NIKETAN Started in July 1972 with 12 students, today this branch has nearly 2,500 students with a staff of 150. The junior school houses students from nursery to Class 3 and the senior school from classes 4 to class 12. The management of the school is actively involved in adult literacy programmes.
SADHU VASWANI INTERNATIONAL SHANTI NIKETAN This all-girls' school was established in 1987. It is a progressive school based on Indian thought, culture, tradition and the educational ideals of Sadhu Vaswani.
This is a linguistic minority school.
Various activities have been designed to promote conservation of natural resources here. OTHER GOOD OPTIONS CHINMAYA VIDYALAYA VASANT VIHAR To develop the love of Indian heritage and culture, training for all types of dances is provided to the students by well-trained faculty. The school's education programme integrates Indian culture and Vedantic philosophy with academic learning.
ARMY PUBLIC SCHOOL DHAULA KUAN The school was established almost 55 years ago, for students belonging to the armed forces. Army Public School's campus is one of the largest in the city, spread over an area of 31.5 acres. The school belongs to a family of 126 schools being run by the Army Welfare Education Society.
THE AIR FORCE SCHOOL SUBROTO PARK In addition to classroom teaching, the school has various avenues of learning such as excursions, camps, dramatics, debates, elocution, quiz, group learning etc. Educomp smart classes have been installed so that teachers can supplement the classroom teaching with audiovisual display systems which help children learn much faster.
LORETO CONVENT SCHOOL PARADE ROAD This all-girls' school is known for its sound academic and extra-curricular background. What began in 1964 in small tents has risen to have a campus area of 10 acres. This school is meant primarily for the children of defence personnel. Civilians, especially Catholics, are also admitted.
RAMJAS SCHOOL RK PURAM The school has a total strength of about 2000 students, with around 100 teachers on roll. Various facilities, such as the library, gymnasium and music room are equipped with the latest facilities. The school has a bio-tech lab, chemistry lab, physics lab, maths lab and two computer labs. I don't look at aspirations of parents. Students are my concern. We always need to be a cut above everyone's aspirations.

D O M I N I C J A C O B , principal Trends have changed. People want to study now. Education helps us as students and individuals to achieve a status in civil society.

A N U R A G J A C O B , student If we start looking at ourselves as a brand, then we are dead as a school.
Our job is to be in the background and actualise the students' performance.

A R U N K A P U R , educationist We can't suggest changes to our school because the overall education system controls them. The change needs to come from there.

A K H I L E S H O B E R O I , student