The Hindu Business Line : Pre-school franchises, a growing trend

KIDS - adorable, delightful, and at times annoying... but a source of revenue? Well, apparently so, because the trend of pre-school franchises seems to be growing in India. It's the age group between one-and-a-half and four years that these franchises are tapping into, when they are just a bit too young to begin their conventional education.

And if you think it doesn't sound like a big deal, well, you would be wrong. EuroKids, for example, which advertises itself as the No. 1 pre-school chain in India, has more than 210 centres across 94 towns and cities in India, and more than 40,000 students having been through the EuroKids experience since its inception in 2001, according to Mr Prajodh Rajan, Marketing - Head, Euro Kids.

Another chain, Shemrock Agency, a Delhi-centric franchise, has about 80 centres across India, 45 of which are in Delhi, while Apple Kids, a South-based franchise, has 45 centres, mostly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

So, how does a pre-school franchise work? Says Mr Prajodh Rajan, "We solicit prospective franchisees through various media, and grant a franchise to someone suitable. The prospect should have a college degree, keen interest in education services, love for working with young kids and reasonable financial resources."

The franchisee then goes through a four-day orientation programme, and gets a set of manuals which indicate what the ambience of school should be like, the equipment to be purchased, and the fee structure is defined as per the model of the pre-school in a given territory (EuroKids offers 4 models with differential fee structures).

Ms Kalpana Kannan, a franchisee of EuroKids in Chennai, says that what she receives is the goodwill of the EuroKids brand, and a well-researched curriculum to work with in return, as well as advice and guidance as regards marketing her school from the head office.

Shemrock Agency, on the other hand, has an e-mail system and a training brochure for their franchisees, according to Mr Amol Arora, Director, Business Development. After the initial training programme, Shemrock has a quality control team that keeps travelling and giving consultancy to the franchises on technical, educational and marketing matters. "We don't want to go into an organisation where we have to close down," says Mr Arora, "We want to go into a programme where we feel confident, we have to act responsibly as a franchiser," he adds.

But not everyone is comfortable with the concept of commercialising children's education. Ms Lakshmi (name changed on request), Principal of a reputed school, says, "I am afraid of anything that has a commercial tone when it comes to education. Pre-school is the first educational environment that a child steps into, and for me, the whole concept is directed more towards the needs of the working parent than the needs of the child. I am not against it because it is a franchise, but I just feel that the focus should be on the development of the psychological, emotional and physical needs of the child."

On the other hand, if Mr Rajan is to be believed, pre-school franchises bring structure to a largely unorganised segment.

He says, "Most pre-schools are owned and operated by typical `aunty next doors' who have little or no experience, and the schools lack basic infrastructural facilities and also conduct programmes which are not suitable for children of that age."

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