It is no surprise that India, being home to the largest population of children (16.45 crore children in the age group of 0-6 years that is 13.59 per cent of the total population), is exponentially growing in the educational sector. The increased awareness on child development, paired with the country's demographic demands led the preschool education industry, which is currently valued at `25,000 crore, to flourish at high CAGR of over 20 per cent.
Driven by rising parental expectations over their child’s preschool education, the industry, which was mostly composed of unorganised sector, is increasingly witnessing a shift towards the organised sector. Grabbing on to this opportunity, many are opening schools, buying franchisees and collaborating with existing preschools. However, owning a school does not come without its share of risks and challenges. FlintoClass, recently conducted National Pre-School Survey.
Increasing admissions annually: With the shrinking family structure and greater emphasis on child development, the enrolment of children in preschool has increased in the country. However, there is a disparity. In India, the Tier I cities have a major share in annual enrolment than Tier II, Tier III or Tier IV cities. Factors like awareness about cutting-edge technology employed in classrooms, year-on-year inflation in operation costs and salaries to teachers, play an important role in the discrepancy towards the rate of enrolment. To effectively plug these differences, preschools have mushroomed in every nook and corner of the cities and towns. Unfortunately, in the context of a highly competitive preschool market, school owners find it difficult to stand apart. As a result, securing admissions become the biggest challenge for the school owners. The survey indicates the existence of 50 per cent of such pre-school owners.
Everyday operations and providing quality education: Emphasising the need for extra-curricular activities as an integral part of education for the overall development of a child has changed the parameters of quality regulation, making them much more complex and multi-dimensional. Preschool education is recognised as one of the key factors in the overall improvement of quality education. Improving the preschool leadership and quality of preschool education is a subjective issue, thus challenging to be resolved and implemented. 35 per cent of the school owners surveyed consider coping with the everyday operation and quality education as a challenge they struggle with.
Hiring and retaining teachers: Nearly 10 per cent of the school owners consider regulating the quality of teaching staff as a challenge for pre-schools especially in the unorganised sector. With thousands of vying for teaching jobs, schools today may have a much wider candidate base to choose from, the quality of aspirants in terms of education and teaching aptitude has largely dipped. It is a bigger problem for pre-schools as they need a higher number of teachers as compared to regular schools to comply with the teacher-student ratio of 1:10. Even if the school does hire efficient staff, there is a need for continuous training to stay abreast with the rapidly changing education trends. Teacher training, thus, becomes another big challenge. Even if tools for the development of young minds are available, teachers are often unable to use them. Meanwhile, the teachers who are talented and excel at their work, eventually make way for better opportunities from other reputed schools.
Financial constraints: Though most preschools thrive on good business, 5%still face financial constraints when it comes to starting and running a school. High costs associated with licensing and proper staffing, drain the school owners of their resources due to which they have to do away with sales and marketing. Consequently, they are unable to attract enough leads to the school and hence feasibility becomes an issue. While the franchise operations experience no such concerns due to sales and marketing support by the principles, it is the small individual preschool operators who bear the financial brunt.
The writer is Arunprsad Durairaj,Co-founder, CEO, FlintoClass
