School Franchise

Before implementation of National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP 2020), country had adopted 10+2 structure of school system with formal education starting at the age ... Read more

Before implementation of National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP 2020), country had adopted 10+2 structure of school system with formal education starting at the age of 6 in Class 1. With stiff competition for admission in good schools, children below the age of 6 were sent to ‘Preparatory’ Schools, which are known by various names – Kinder-garden school, nursery schools, play schools etc., with their main function being preparing the child to beat the competition for admission in Class 1 and secure admission in a good school. ‘Preparatory’ Schools, which are now called PRESCHOOLS, laid much emphasis on rote learning, adopting book based curricula to strengthen ‘3R’ capabilities.

However, researches world over established that the growth of brain is very fast in the first five years and the foundation of future learning of a child is laid in those first five years. As such, emphasis on preschool education grew rapidly in developed countries and kept pace with the researches going on in the field.

Unfortunately, in our country, due to budgetary constraints, emphasis of the government was focused on ‘Integrated Child Development’ through Anganbadi setup in which more emphasis was laid on health and nutrition and learning was a very small component, handled by poorly trained staff. As there was a big vacuum of good schools while people were eager to send their children in preparatory schools, there came up a mushroom growth of stand-alone private kindergartens, playschools and nursery schools. Also, it opened up opportunity for some business houses to contribute in education by opening preschools and then extending their expertise to others through franchise mode. But even this effort was not enough.

Finally, our government realized the importance of Early Childhood Education and included it in the National Education Policy, 2020, with a vision to create an ecosystem in which every child gets opportunity to get good education. There are around 16 crore in the age group below 6 years in our country, for which provision of ECCE is required, while the existing facility reaches to very few of them, and its quality is also not good. This is a challenging task before the country and it cannot be further delayed, as this time will never come back in the lives already born and eager to learn. To convert this vision into reality, it is necessary for a massive effort for expansion along with equity and excellence by involving philanthropists, NGOs, Private Entrepreneurs together with government effort in a big way, with a spirit of ‘NATION FIRST’!