Hippocampus Learning Centres plans to almost double the number of its low-cost pre-schools in rural areas to 500 across Karnataka and Maharashtra by June 2016. The Bengaluru-based company wants to open 5,000 centres in the next five years.
Established in 2010, the company currently runs 232 centres. It has also started to operate classes I to V in two existing private schools in an operational agreement with schools through a franchising model. The company recruits and trains teachers, develops curriculum as well as manages parents through this arrangement.
Hippocampus Learning Centres started operations with libraries in rural India through a reading foundation, but soon shifted focus to preschool and kindergarten programmes.
It sets up education centres in villages with a population of 5,000 or more for children aged three-five years. Enrolled its first batch in 2011, it has 8,000 children to date that have been beneficiaries of its education model that seeks to get preschoolers ready for the formal education system. In its network, the company has 465 teachers who deliver a curriculum that has been developed internally.
