Preschool Online India

When the pandemic hit the country, all the schools including preschools closed. Among the options to continue preschoolers’ education, going online was the best option. 

In response to this, many new online preschools opened and older preschools switched to online classes. Many of these schools now offer franchises. 

In this article, discover the top 15 online preschool franchises in India.

Online Preschool Market Overview

Before the pandemic, preschool was a lucrative business. Many of the preschools offered franchises. The preschool market was growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 20 percent. 

In the preschool sector, playschools were the most profitable. Most playschools charged an average fee ranging from Rs 30,000-75,000 per year. Some schools even charged as high as Rs 1.5 Lakh to Rs 2 Lakhs.

However, the pandemic changed all that. At the onset COVID-19 crisis, schools at all levels close. As time went on, some schools stopped operations entirely. Those who wanted to continue went to online classes. 

The online class was the best method to resume education. But it had its own set of problems to overcome. The problems were the availability of internet connection and gadgets, curriculum suited for online teaching, support from parents, and the attention span of preschoolers.

Over time, the schools have made revisions to the curriculum and made innovations to their teaching. Now, they are better prepared than last year. New online schools have also started which address the challenges of the virtual classroom.

Confident that they can serve the preschoolers’ educational needs, many of these schools have franchising programs.

What Makes Online Preschool an Ideal Franchise Business

Despite the pandemic, market researchers expect the preschool market to grow. The growth might not be the same as before but growth is expected at a CAGR of almost 8% during 2021-2025.

There are two factors pushing the growth. One is the increasing number of women in the labor force. Preschools help women with young children to go to work. Two is the increasing number of trained teachers capable of handling preschool children.

Aside from the expected growth, another reason online preschool is an ideal franchise business is the need for early education. Indians understand this need. Therefore, parents do their best to send their little children to preschools.

The last reason online preschool is an ideal franchise business is because of the unpredictability of the COVID-19. No one knows when the coronavirus will strike again. No one knows when it will mutate into another strain. We still do not know its end.
All these reasons make the online preschool an ideal franchise to buy.

Pros and Cons of Online Preschool Franchise

Here are the pros and cons of this business.

Pros 

1. Efficient teaching

In a traditional school, many operations are running simultaneously. But in online schools, few operations are running. With fewer operations to consider, you can focus on your teachers, their teaching, and the curriculum. In this way, the school’s teaching becomes efficient.

2. Lower operations cost

At the initial stage, online preschool requires quite an investment. You have to invest in laptops or desktops, software applications, a reliable and fast internet connection, teaching materials, and many more.

But, once you have them, everything becomes affordable. Your overhead expenditures will go down. You do not need classrooms. The use of light and water will be minimal. You need only a few non-teaching personnel. There is no need for a school bus service.

3. Increased Reach

In a traditional school, you target children near your school for enrollment. But with online classes, distance is not a problem. You can accept enrollees everywhere.

4. Increased parents participation

In online preschool, parents or guardians need to increase their participation. The reason for this is that teachers are not physically present with their children. Preschoolers cannot learn all by themselves without some help from their parents or guardians.

Cons

1. Technology woes

As mentioned above, you need to invest in a reliable and fast internet connection. But even the most reliable can have some downtime. Or sometimes, one or two computers break down. These issues interrupt teaching. A contingency plan should be in place in case these scenarios happen.

2. Teachers’ training

Not all teachers are comfortable or knowledgeable about computers. So training them would be very useful to the teachers. Schedule training for the teachers prior to the start of the classes.

3. Not suited for all children

Understand that children have different learning styles. The different learning styles are visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), tactile (touch) and kinesthetic (doing and moving). If a child is strong in tactile and/or kinesthetic, he may have some problems with online classes.

4. Demanding on teachers

Teachers put extra effort into preparation and teaching to make their lessons exciting. They have to be creative to get children’s attention.

5. Take care of screen time

Staring at the monitor screen for a long period is not advisable, especially for young children. The increased screen can affect their eyesight. Therefore, management of their screen time is very important.

List of Online Preschool Franchises

Here we have the list of the top 15 online preschool franchises. Despite being online preschools, most of these preschools still prefer the franchisee to have a physical school. In their franchise requirements, you can see that space is one requirement. The initial investment also includes the cost of building of facilities. However, get in touch with them to clarify this.

1. Vedantu

Vedantu Innovations Pvt. Ltd. (or Vedantu) is an Indian online tutoring platform. This edtech company started in 2011 in Bengaluru. Initially, it offered content for the K-12 school curriculum and preparations for Indian Entrance Examinations and Olympiads.

The last year 2020, Vedantu launched “Vedantu Superkids” for children ages 3-12 (Kindergarten to Grade 5).

Franchise Fee: Rs. 500,000
Initial Investment: Rs 5 Lakhs-10 Lakhs
Website: https://www.vedantu.com
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: 1800-120-456-456; 91 988-660-2456

2. Footprints Childcare

Footprints is a childcare and preschool chain operating on a franchise model. Purvesh Sharma, Raj Singhal, and Ashish Aggarwal founded Footprints in 2013. Now, it operates from Gurgaon. 

As to curriculum, it adopted the Highscope Preschool Curriculum. Home@Footprints is the online school of Footprints Childcare. Footprints call their franchising model the Zero Risk Partnership Model. This model assures:

  • 120 Admission Guarantee
  • No Operational Loss
  • 30% - 35% Return
  • Buy Back Guarantee
  • Zero Royalty for first 30 admissions in select cities
  • Risk Protection: Option to sell back at ~ 45 Lakhs
  • Footprints responsible for all marketing and sales

 
Initial Investment: Metro Cities - minimum Rs. 50 Lakhs; Non-Metro Cities - minimum Rs. 40 Lakhs
Space Requirement: 2,500-10,000 sq. ft.
Website: https://www.footprintseducation.in
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: +919069138710

3. Flintoclass

In 2013, Arunprasad Durairaj, Vijay Babu Gandhi, and Shreenidhi Srirangam founded Flinto Global Solutions Pte. Ltd. Its Indian base is in Chennai but its international base is in Singapore.

They started with Flintobox. Flintobox is an activity box and it is subscription-based. It targets children ages two to 12.

In 2017, they launched Flintoclass. Flintoclass is structured learning material. To implement Flintoclass, Flinto partners with preschools that subscribe to their program.

When the Covid-19 outbreak came, Flintoclass went unusable because schools were closed. So, the company came out with Flintoclass@HOME. Flintoclass@HOME is the same as Flintoclass except for some modifications made to suit online learning.

With the government slowly reopening schools, preschools could resume with their in-person Flintoclasses soon.

To operate a Flintoclass, you do not need to buy a franchise. Just partner with Flint Global Solutions by subscribing to their materials.

Website: https://flintoclass.com
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: +91 75501 01010

4. Kangaroo Kids International Preschool

Lina Ashar started Kangaroo Kids International Preschool in 1993. It opened its first preschool in Mumbai. From that, it expanded to over 100 preschools all over India. It also has preschools in Maldives, Dubai, and Qatar.

In response to the Covid-19 lockdowns, Kangaroo Kids started its virtual schooling for K-12 students. It supports its online classes with a curriculum-based learning app called Skippytech.

Franchise Fee: Rs. 25 Lakhs
Initial Investment: Rs. 8 Lakhs - 9 Lakhs
Royalty Fee: 14%
Space Requirement: 3,000 sq.ft.
Website: https://www.kangarookids.in
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: (+91) 22 6658 3000

5. Canvas International Preschool

Canvas International Preschool is a preschool that started in April 2016. The first preschool was in Jaipur. Hema Harchandani is the founder and the present Managing Director of the school chain. Now, it has over 50 preschools.

It is called its online program Connect@Canvas. This program divides preschoolers into four groups:

  • Infant Community (Playgroup) 2 yrs - 2.5 yrs
  • Inquirers (Nursery) 3 yrs - 3.5 yrs
  • Collaborators (Kindergarten) 4 yrs - 4.5 yrs
  • Creators (Prep) 5 yrs - 5.5 yrs

Franchise Fee: Rs. 3 Lakhs (Rajasthan); Rs. 3.5 Lakhs (outside of Rajasthan)
Initial Investment: Rs. 5 Lakhs - Rs. 6 Lakhs
Space Requirement: 1,500-2,000 sq.ft.
Website: https://www.canvasinternationalschool.com
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: 73000 52961

6. Mother’s Pride Preschool

Mother's Pride Preschool is a preschool chain that began in 1996. It opened its first branch in Paschim Vihar, Delhi. Sudha Gupta is the founder and current Chairperson of the school chain. Now, it has 110 preschools.

Because of the pandemic, Mother’s Pride has developed a special Program of Online Classes that focus on Holistic Development.

Initial Investment: Rs. 15 Lakhs - Rs.3 Crore
Space Requirement: 1,500 – 10,000 sq. ft.
Website: https://www.motherspridepreschool.com
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Contact Number/s: +91 783 865 4023; +91 783 865 4024

7.Little Elly Preschool (Elly@Home)

Mr. Vittal and Mrs. Preeti Bhandary founded Little Elly Preschool in 2004 in Bellandur, Bangalore. Today, they have 130 centers all over India.

As for their curriculum, they have combined the Montessori and Steiner methods. They believe children learn better and faster when they are having fun. 

The founders call Little Elly “The Concept Preschool” because they designed the rooms, not in the traditional way. The school has a series of “Concept Rooms.”

To solve the pandemic problem, Little Elly started Elly@Home. Elly@Home follows Little Elly’s curriculum but with some modifications to fit online learning.

Initial Investment: Rs. 10 Lakhs - Rs. 12 Lakhs
Space Requirement: 2,400 sq.ft. (60 ft. x 40 ft.)
Website: https://littleelly.com
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: +91 9972528787

8. Mindseed Preschool and Day-Care

Brothers Amrut Dhumal and Prasad Dhumal started Mindseed Preschool in 2012. Mindseed is a chain of preschools that started in Navi Mumbai. Today, it has 50 preschools.

For its online classes, it has the Preschool Comes Home. Mindseed’s online program Mom News Daily’s “Best Online Preschool for Toddlers Learning at Home.”

With many preschools and day-care centers closing, Mindseed founders, Amrut Dhumal and Prasad Dhumal have raised an acquisition fund for these schools. Instead of entirely closing these schools getting nothing, they would offer the owners to buy them.

Mindseed Preschool offers franchise opportunities but their advice is to get in touch with them through email.

Website: https://www.mindseed.in
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: 7738511444 / 7738066441

9. Maple Bear Canadian School

The Canadian Education Centre Network (CECN) is a non-government organization that started in 1997. The Canadian government started the organization and partially funded the operations. CECN’s purpose was to promote Canadian schools and universities to foreign students.

In 2003, the Canadian government stopped its support of CECN. It was also at that time when CECN started Maple Bear Canadian School. The first Maple Bear Canadian School to open was in Indirapuram (New Delhi), India in 2005. Today, there are over 89 Maple Bear Schools in India. It offers online classes to preschool children. 

Initial Investment: Rs. 25 Lakhs - 30 Lakhs
Space Requirement: 2,500-3,000 sq. ft.
Website: https://www.maplebearsouthasia.com
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: +91 8882 088 218

10. EuroKids

Prajodh Rajan and Vikas Phadnis founded EuroKids in 2001. EuroKids is a preschool chain under the EuroKids Group (now Lighthouse Learning). It has company-owned preschools and franchise preschools. In 2018, it started the EuroKids DayCare. There are now 1,000 preschools around the country.

The online classes, it has the EuroKids@Home Kit and the Home Buddy. EuroKids@Home Kit is for Playgroup and Nursery (1.8 to 4 years). Home Buddy is for Preschool.

Initial Investment: Rs. 20 Lakhs
Space Requirement: 2,000 sq. ft.
Website: https://www.eurokidsindia.com
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: 1800-209-5656

11. Shemrock Preschool

Shemrock Preschool is one of the oldest preschool chains in India. Dr. D. R. Arora and Dr. (Mrs.) Bimla Arora founded the school chain in 1989. Now, it has over 525 branches across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

EduMAX is the program for its online classes. They based it on their own curriculum which they have developed over 30 years. 

Initial Investment: Rs. 6 Lakhs
Space Requirement: 2,500 sq. ft.
Website: https://www.shemrock.com
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: +91 95605 59955

12. Little Laureates Preschool

Nalanda Learning Systems Pvt. Ltd. started Little Laureates Preschool in 2012. Little Laureates is one pioneer in a fully online preschool curriculum combined with live classroom classes. Their curriculum goes with a learning management system (LMS) application.

When the pandemic came, the switch to full online was quick for them. They claim that they are “The First Virtual Preschool in India.”

To run a Little Laureates School, you do not need to buy a franchise like Flintoclass. Just partner with Little Laureates by subscribing to their materials. 

The partner school will charge every student Rs. 4,500 for the Little Laureates materials. Then, the Little Laureates will provide books, worksheets, Teachers Training, Day-wise curriculum plan, Assessment, Operational and Marketing support.

Website: https://littlelaureates.com
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: +91-33-40030971 / 72

13. Purple Turtle Online School

Purple Turtle Online Preschool is a growing chain of preschools. Radeesh Shetty founded Purple Turtle in 2009. The school chain got its name from the IP (intellectual property) character in the curriculum material, Purple Turtle.  Purple Turtle is one of the world’s leading preschool IPs.

It offers preschool subjects online. But it also has worksheets, videos, and storybooks as well.

Franchise Fee: Rs. 3 Lakhs
Initial Investment: Rs. 8 Lakhs - 12 Lakhs
Royalty Fee: 15%
Space Requirement: 1000 sq. ft. - 4000 sq. ft.
Website: https://purpleturtle.com
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: +91-9098501399, +91-9826008334

14. Sunshine Preschool and Daycare Chain

Sunshine Preschool and Daycare Chain is a group of preschools and daycare centers in India that began in 2005. It is the pioneer in the preschool with a daycare model.  

Amit Prasad of the SatNav Group founded the school chain. Sunshine Preschool and Daycare Chain is a venture of the SatNav Group in partnership with CfBT UK and Old Station Nursery Chain, UK. 

It is offering online classes through its Virtual School program. To go with its Virtual School are its kits for Play Group/ Nursery, Lower Kindergarten/Upper Kindergarten, and Daycare.

Initial Investment: Rs. 10 Lakhs - 15 Lakhs
Royalty Fee: 10%
Space Requirement: 2000 sq.ft.
Website: https://www.sunshinepreschools.com
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s: +91 630-053-1890

15. Vidyarpan

Vidyarpan calls itself “The Digital Preschool in India and The Best Play School in Faridabad.” Prior to the pandemic, the school was having physical classes using advanced technology. Parents could watch their children over their smartphones. CCTV cameras were found all over the school.

Switching to online classes was straightforward since it was already into digital teaching. Its franchise investment is one of the lowest.

Initial Investment: Rs. 5 Lakhs - 7 Lakhs
Space Requirement: 2,000 - 2,500 sq. ft.
Website: https://vidyarpan.com
Email: [email protected]
Contact Number/s:  080-41130747

Key Takeaways

Schools have recently reopened in many parts of the country for off-line classes. Two factors prompted the reopening. First is the drop in Covid-19 cases and second is the rural students’ struggle with the online classes. The internet connection there is not reliable.

However, Indians have mixed feelings about this. It has brought joy and also a concern. It brought joy since the children had been away from their physical schools for 19 months. Most of the time, they just stayed home. It also brought concern. What if the reopening could trigger a third-wave outbreak?

As long as it is not wiped out or controlled, the fear of children contracting the Covid-19 virus will be there. So, schools will still need online classes.

With this, getting an online preschool franchise is viable. The spread of the Covid-19 virus is unpredictable. Online classes safeguard children from the virus. Another is that the schools are innovating to make online classes workable.

Online classes are not the best solution but the most practical for the present situation. So, online preschools for now will stay. Buying an online preschool franchise is a good proposition to consider.

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