Why preschool schools are flourishing in India

Posted by rohit sharma on April 30th, 2019

We humans learn most when we interact with our environment. That is when we are free to taste, smell, touch and feel the things around us. This is the education we get in our early years. Children have evolved to develop their bodies and minds through interaction with the physical world.

 Indeed a preschool is a place where a child gets an opportunity to do just that. The young children, in particular, need to touch and feel and run and jump. Play is what they need to develop their motor, social, emotional and intellectual skills, and they need to do it with minimal interference from adults, within a nurturing environment.

Preschool is vital for many children not primarily because it provides academic preparation for elementary school, but because it provides a nurturing environment where they can play while their parents are working.

This awareness has led to a boom in the preschool business in India. Today there are a number of preschool chains in India which are providing world class preschool learning experience to the children. These preschool franchises in India have thousands of branches spread across the country. Let us begin by listing down the oft-quoted numbers about the space: 90% of the brain's capacity development happens before the age of 5.

A big factor that has fuelled the growth of the preschools is changes that are coming in the Indian economy. The economy for the last several years is growing at the pace of 7% which naturally results in higher income for the middle class.

These middle-class professionals are mostly working couples and they not only understand the value of early education but also need such services which can share their responsibilities of parenthood. The preschools and daycare schools do just that.

 The   Preschool Business along with similar businesses like crèche, a child daycare is expected to grow at roughly 32% over the next four years. Interestingly a lot of demand is coming from smaller towns and cities. Sensing the potential the playschool franchisees are now focusing on even in tier 2 and tier 3 cities in India.

The preschool chains in India are aggressively marketing their brand in such towns which hitherto were considered not so suitable for preschool business. As a result, the pre-school market in India is witnessing exponential growth.

The   factors that are driving the growth of the preschool segment in India are:.   

1. Increasing demand due to increase in awareness about preschool education for children;
2. Improved standard of living
3. rise in income levels
4. Increase in the number of working mothers/parents
5. Increase in nuclear families

These factors have led to new players entering the preschool business. Many new preschool franchisees are employing innovative techniques to generate demand and increase their footprint in the country.

 Indian preschool market is also witnessing an upgrade as the playschool franchisees are offering state-of-the-art teaching and learning techniques to have an edge over their competitors.

Though the preschool education sector is booming in India, it has its own challenges. The Indian preschool market is dominated by the unorganized sector that lacks quality infrastructure and a consistent curriculum for imparting high-quality education. The unorganized sector should take the blame for compromising the quality and thus lowering the credibility of the preschools in India.

Some of them are offering very low fees structuring by downgrading their services and infrastructure. However, these challenges can be resolved by embracing the franchise model or teaming up with corporate houses and builders to reduce the operational costs besides modernizing infrastructure facilities.

So indeed there is a need to educate the young Indian parents about the importance of preschools and also how a cheaper option may not be worth it. The preschools should roll out campaigns to reach out to parents for spreading awareness about the importance of informal education for their child.

Having said that, it is also true that despite the challenges, the organized playschools operating on franchise models are all set to flourish in India. The current scenario suggests that preschool sector in India will witness tremendous growth in the next few years with an increase in demand for branded or organized play schools.  The best time to enter the preschool business is indeed now!