BY SEJAL DESAI
School in Pune emerges as the frontrunner as the voting is underway for five World’s Best School Prizes
The Akanksha PCMC English Medium School in Bopkhel, Pune, has been named among the Top 3 finalist for the $250,000 World’s Best School Prizes, launched this year by the UK-based organization, T4 Education in collaboration with Accenture, American Express, Yayasan Hasanah, Templeton World Charity Foundation, the Lemann Foundation, D2L, Mellby Gård, and Universidad Camilo José Cela. The award has been instituted to honour the best practices of schools that are transforming the lives of their students and making a real difference to their communities.
The five World’s Best School Prizes – for Community Collaboration, Environmental Action, Innovation, Overcoming Adversity, and Supporting Healthy Lives – celebrate schools everywhere for the pivotal role they play in developing the next generation of learners and for their enormous contribution to society’s progress especially in the wake of COVID.
Akanksha PCMC English Medium School, Bopkhel, is located in a small, remote village and is run as a Public Private Partnership between the Akanksha Foundation and local government. Most of its students come from low-income families and many parents had little education and did not always see education as important for their child earning a decent living when they grow up. With the knowledge that parents have a profound impact on children’s ability to learn and absorb information, the school makes home visits to better understand students’ home environments and build strong relationships with their parents, instilling in them the importance of education. PCMC English Medium School, Bopkhel has forged cultural dynamics centred on close ties within the community and with parents.
The school also works with local doctors, grocers and religious leaders to help create programs that help parents in financial need. The school launched a program of free medical check-ups in the community and ‘Master Chef’ style classes were launched that taught families about how to have a healthy and balanced diet. Students are also part of a daily fruit eating initiative that keeps them on track for healthy eating and every week they have a set meal plan. The impact has trickled into their home lives as parents have started to follow the same nutrition plan.

Saurabh Taneja, CEO of Akanksha Foundation, said: “This recognition gives us a wonderful opportunity to share Akanksha’s excellent practices on the global stage. This is both a moment of pride and a huge responsibility to keep up our commitment to build high-performing, innovative schools for our students, parents, and communities.”
To work on the emotional needs of its students and their families, social workers and counsellors scheduled meetings with parents, offering therapy for any distress caused by their background or financial status. For some parents, these talks worked to great effect, allowing them to become emotionally stable enough to help support not only their own children, but others as well. Such schemes helped create a more vibrant and tight knit community in the village, with parents becoming more actively involved in the management of the school and their children’s lives. This philosophy is practised across all Akanksha Foundation schools.
If PCMC English Medium School, Bopkhel were to win the World’s Best School Prize for Community Collaboration, it would donate some of the money to the Akanksha Foundation due to their contribution towards the management of the school. The funds would also be distributed towards other schools that work with the Akanksha Foundation.

The Top 3 finalists for each of the five World’s Best School Prizes will now be entered into a Public Advisory Vote. Members of the public have until October 2, to tell judges who they think should win each prize at worldsbestschool.org/
The winners will be announced on October 19, 2022, at World Education Week. A prize of $250,000 will be shared equally among the winners of the five Prizes, with each receiving an award of US$50,000.
Link to our Video:
Viewing World’s Best School Prizes 2021-2022 – World’s Best School Prizes (launchpad6.com)