Global play schools eye India play
Teaching is no more only about chalk and duster. Chances are your child is likely to learn colours, numbers and shapes while playing soccer as well.
Teaching is no more only about chalk and duster. Chances are your child is likely to learn colours, numbers and shapes while playing soccer as well.
With the number of children going for play schools expected to increase to over 10 lakh by XX from the current 3.5 lakh, three international play school chains -- Little Kickers, The City and Sherpa Kids -- are all set to enter the Indian market.
The target audience -- children aged between 1.5 years to 8 years.
Canada-based Little Kickers uses soccer-based programmes to help in the early development of the child. Another Singapore-based play school, The City, creates small-scale, real-life locations, including supermarket, cafe and hospitals, to stimulate child’s imagination and learning.
New-Zealand based Sherpa Kids, on the other hand, will introduce the new concept of out of school care (OOSC) provider in India. Such play schools, in global markets, allow parents to leave children after school-time and engage them in activities tailored to fit in with the requirement of their studies.
“Our fees would be around R5,000 per month and we plan to create a strong presence in all major cities in India within the next three years,” Dawn Engelbrecht, managing director, Sherpa Kids International, told HT.
India currently has 65,000-odd play schools.
“Valuable early learning concepts such as colour and number recognition, sharing and taking turns are taught to the kids through a variety of games, which fire their imaginations,” said Christine Stanschus, CEO at Little Kickers.
According to credit ratings agency Crisil, the overall pre-school market is expected grow at 20% between 2013 and 2018, and hit a market size of R16,500 crore by 2018.
