Preschool and Childcare Sector in India

Introduction

One would not be surprised to find out that the young population is proven to possess a higher average intelligence level than the previous generation, with the average IQ increasing by 3 points every decade. To put this into perspective, an average individual alive today would have an IQ of 130 by the standards of 1910, placing them higher than 98% of the population at that time. This means that children, especially kids, have a more developed thinking and reasoning capacity compared to their predecessors at that age. The human brain needs stimulus not only to perform basic functions, but also to grow and learn. Hence, kids need the right exposure at a tender age to help them unlock their true potential and make them more receptive to further education, which brings into picture the cruciality of pre-school and childcare services.

Business Situation:

• Renowned preschool needed parent advice to develop on their offering for preschool combined with day care facility.

Finding Facts:

• Identify parent needs and expectations from service
• Enlist activities which could ensure safety of the child for parents
• Add on services which can be offered to parents
• Comparative evaluation to develop a unique offering for client.

Solutions Suggested:

• Feedback and acceptability of service by features exposed to parents
• Ways to fulfill latent needs of parents with complete transparency about processes.

Outcome:

• Suggestion on types of services, safety measures, engagement points and pricing for the offering.

Our Understanding & Suggestions:

India has seen healthy growth in this sector over the years and is expected to see further growth in the region of 19% CAGR in the upcoming years. This growth can be attributed to many factors, such as increasing parent awareness for early childhood education and care, and rising number of nuclear families and working women in the country. In many cases, as both parents in the family are occupied with their professions, pre-schools offer a reliable system to ensure that the child’s growth is not hindered due to the absence of parents. Moreover, other factors such as increasing disposable income of parents and rapid urbanization have led to a rise in brand consciousness and penetration of international preschools in the country. This has resulted in the development of innovative and advanced infrastructure as well as quality education programs for preschools across the country. With expansion in tier 2 and tier 3 cities and escalation of franchise numbers in untapped areas, the number of preschool and child care centres have significantly increased. The government of India has also launched the National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy, promoting pre-schooling for children in low-income households of the country.

What this means for preschool and child care centres, is ensuring that the kids are provided with all the necessary means of learning, with proper vigilance to ensure that they are looked after well during the time that the children are with them. Technology can be employed to help parents keep a track of their children’s progress and also provide the kids with a more immersive learning experience. The market exhibits great potential but comes with huge responsibility. The centres must focus on building better trust and relationships, especially with first-time parents, to ensure growth through loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals, and to get useful insights through parental feedback. This will help them better understand the needs of the parents, which is a vital aspect considering that the parents come from diverse backgrounds and may wish that their children are brought up in a certain way, and exposed to certain ideologies at that age.

Although parents are spending less time with their children due to other commitments, it certainly does not mean that the upbringing of their children should have a negative effect on their careers. Given that these facilities are far from replacing parenthood, they enable the parents to focus on other aspects which may ultimately define their ability to support the children financially. A step in the right direction can reduce this pressure and also provide children with a holistic learning experience for a bright future.