Emerging Preschool Chains in India

Preschool chains offer a great opportunity to aspiring entrepreneurs. Educating kids is a profitable as well as satisfying investment. Today Indian preschool franchise industry provides numerous options with number of branded franchisors available, which has broaden its scope for growth and development.

The concept of Preschool took off in India with daycare centres that take care of child when parents are at work or not around. Preschools were primarily day care centres for children in around 3-5 age group. But now they are seen as an early training ground for children to develop their skills. Over a period of time, it has seen paradigm shift from optional day care centre to important early childhood education. Some researches proved that preschool plays a very crucial role in laying good foundation for the child and preparing him for the future. It enhances abilities and skills of a child in areas such as language, motor skills, psychosocial cognitive, learning, etc. Early childhood is a crucial stage of life in terms of a child’s physical, intellectual, emotional and social development. Growth of mental and physical abilities progress at an astounding rate and a very high proportion of learning takes place from birth to age six. It is a time when children particularly need high quality personal care and learning experiences.
Five years back parents used to consider preschool as a place for letting their children interact with peers and spend some time away from home. They wanted to help their child to conquer shyness and be comfortable in meeting more people. Nowadays the parents are aware of the child’s pace, focused on each every milestone achieved by their child and on holistic development of the child. The shift has been immensely on taking preschools as a casual place to keep their children occupied for a few hours to taking preschools seriously as monumental in their child’s development.
Priti Srivastava, Founder Director, Vidyãrambh – The International Preschool and Childcare Centers
says, “We have seen a huge shift in the mindset of the parents. Seven years ago only the higher income group in metros recognised the need to send their children to preschools but now all parents are open to the idea of sending their children to preschools. The awareness about the way quality early childhood education can bring about to the child’s personality has been recognised widely. The other major change and concern that has started happening is that K-12 schools have started opening preschools under their banner. The preschool space has seen a major change in the last few years and only those players who provide quality education in the long run would be present in the near future with lots of consolidation happening over time.”
Ongoing research established that, the preschool, as an institution, provides stimulation for the child’s physical, intellectual, social, and emotional development, in ways that one could not get in the home environment. This sector has shown tremendous growth during the past few years and is familiar not only with the high-end income groups or the affluent class, but is also rapidly gaining popularity among the middle class households, which have the capability and willingness to pay for quality education.
The owner of Strawberry Fields preschool, Anita Rao, Founding Director and the Managing Director, Educational Catalysts India Pvt Ltd says, “Pre- school education has changed for good over the years, especially the early childhood education. Schools have moved from rote method teaching to more activity based teaching and learning. There is more awareness about childhood development and the importance of learning in this age group. However, the schools are still more focused on developing 3R’s, more ever all the areas( cognitive ,language and Physical) seem to be getting addressed but there is no focus on the Social Emotional development. Especially in this age when the family structures are moving towards nuclear structure and both the parents are working. This area is getting neglected. Unless this area of development is addressed well by the Educational institutions we may have a huge problem with young people with emotional problems and ill adjusted individuals towards the society.”

round1
The significance of this very industry
can be measured by the very fact that
it occupies the 3rd largest expenditure
group in the Indian household

It is expected to be worth `13,300
crore by 2015-16, according to a Crisil
research report

Fee depends largely on the
location, franchise and type of the
preschool

 

A S Ganesh,
Founder And Managing
director, Smart Kidz“Teachers with required qualification are very few, so we suggest the Franchisees to appoint teachers who are graduates with good communication skills”


Significance of Preschools has changed in last five years.Industry leaders share their experiences on this shift…

 

Chandrashekhar,COO,
Jain Group of Institutions (Jain Toddlers)

Over the last 5 – 6 years, the preschool sector is witnessing a shift towards organized segment. Lately, the modern preschools have started shifting their focus from ‘teaching’ to ‘learning’ environment. This shift is more than just a change in language, a change in systems operation; in fact it is more of an adoption of the latest educational trend. This is definitely fuelling the growth engine of pre-school business in India

Kiran Kumar,
Director-Operations & Franchising, Blossoms International

Last five years has seen a sea change in fronts like the quality and number of schools. The main change is the nurturing in preschools, which has made difference to the little ones. The most important change has come in the attitude of the young parents who realise the importance of right school/ educator and of their own participation in shaping the minds of the young ones


Ranjan Goyal,

CEO, SerraPreschoolsEducation and the acquisition of skills is a lifelong process and starting early in life is crucial. New age parents have realised this need and are constantly on the look out for a good preschool. The conventional methods of teaching and the traditional outlook towards a preschool have changed radically. An aunt next door operating a preschool or home-schooling during the preschool years is not the norm anymore.

Amar Kapasi,
Director, Planet Kids

The preschool space has taken a massive leap over the years. Today the amount of things that the children are learning at the Planet Kids schools is phenomenal. Few years back a preschool franchise was not considered the part of a child’s education, which has changed over the years. The entire industry has evolved and with the new players coming in and a lot of correction is also happening.The players who are here for a longer duration shall be able to sustain themselves in this area. The various parameters to providing quality in the business have to be maintained on a regular basis to be able to sustain in a long run. The franchise should not only be able to provide good returns to the owners but also provide an institution to the parents for quality education in for a long haul.

Dharmesh Kapasi,
Founder & CEO,
Shanti JuniorsThe trend has been changing drastically, surveys look good on Power Point slides and the time you act upon, the trend moves on so has been the education sector. Preschool was an introductory product a decade ago but now it has turned out to be the necessity.We have many Women Business Partners joining in to carry ahead our brand which compelled us to launch our special Women Entrepreneur Encouragement Schemes “WEES”.
Vittal Bhandary,
Founder & MD, Little Elly Play SchoolI think the challenge is always to find the right partner and a good property opening the preschool. It is definitely challenging to get the right person. But I feel even if we get a semi-skilled manpower with the right attitude, we can mould them accordingly through our training programmes.
Deven khullar,
Chairman,
Brats and CutiesThe journey so far has been very eventful with new teachings with each passing day. The learning has been enthralling and has helped the group to grow and continuously evolve with new ideas for the betterment of the  group.
Navneet Anhal,
CEO, Zee Learn LimitedThere is a challenge of safety of children, which is under the bucket of non-regulation or absence of governing body in this segment. There is a challenge of finding qualified staff that knows what is right for the child. If we work on all this it can flourish into a good business opportunity and more importantly early development of a child.
SK Rathore,
Founder Director,
Sanfort SchoolsThe preschool franchise business needs individuals who are committed to provide quality education and ready to work relentlessly towards providing innovative education with hands on involvement and monetarybenefits shall follow eventually.


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