About 250 schools were short-listed and were assessed on 12 parameters, including academic reputation, co-curricular education, sports education,

quality of teachers, teacher-pupil relation and leadership / management quality.

"Interestingly, a relatively new school, the SJIRS, tops the list of boarding schools in South India for its global reputation, public opinion and parents choice," the report of the surveyors said.

SJIRS senior principal R Kishore Kumar told journalists here, "It gives me satisfaction that our sincere efforts, hard work and the role played by our team for the past 15 years have been recognised and accepted."

"The result has given us much more responsibility to make note of all our shortcomings and work hard to do our best to sustain the position and improve further,"he said.