Bangalore: As three-year-old Mahika’s parents shifted from Jammu to Bangalore, her mother’s biggest concern was putting the child in a preschool similar to her last one.
She ended up finding exactly the same one.
Active learning: Activities at a Shemrock franchisee school in Bangalore. Curricula in these schools include singing, listening to stories, drama, plays, dances, group projects and outdoor games. (Photo: Hemant Mishra / Mint)
With school franchises growing across India, life has become a bit easier for young parents with transferable jobs. “My biggest concern was that Mahika should not feel uprooted and alienated,” says Mahika’s mother Varsha Bhasin, a human resource consultant. “She did not have much issue settling down here as she was used to the toys, classroom set-up and general ambience.”
The transition, too, has been relatively painless for the operators behind these franchises. In many cases, they are homemakers looking to fill their time and earn some additional income. Unlike schools that run from nursery to class 12, which largely are mandated by states to be run by non-profit trusts, preschools can be set up as for-profit companies. And against a greater awareness of and hunger for early childhood education, the school chains and creches, they report, are turning profits within the first year—uncommon in the franchise model.
Preschools cater to those between age one and a half and four years, when children are too young to start formal education. The concept of preschool or playschool, as they are also known, is relatively new in India, but the trend is fast growing, due to increasing, awareness that 40% of learning takes place before the age of four, experts say.
“We broke even in the first year itself. I think it is the only business of its kind where one can generate profits from the second year on,” says Ritu Bora, who owns a 3,000 sq. ft franchise of Eurokids in Pune. “If you have patience and strength, preschools can be a very rewarding experience.”
Bora, a housewife, says she started the school 18 months ago by investing Rs7 lakh. She declined to disclose her revenues, but the centre now has 83 students, each paying Rs19,000 a year.
Currently, the preschool industry in the country is estimated to gross about Rs4,004 crore ($985 million). The sector is likely to cross Rs13,821 crore by 2012, a growth of more than 28% per year, according to estimates from brokerage firm CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. With nearly three-quarters of the country’s population under the age of 35, the demand for quality preschools is expected to only intensify.
Over the years, a handful of preschool chains have emerged. Among the more prominent includes New Delhi-based EuroKids International Pvt Ltd, with 450 centres across 160 cities and towns in the country and 30,000 students. Except for 25 centres, all others are franchises.