"Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.
The Pre-School sector has been a booming industry in India possibly because it is highly recession proof and has an expected growth rate of 35% - 40% per year. However, when we talk about the "growth"" in the pre-school industry, most of the spotlight is on the private pre-schools available in the market, whereas in our country, preschool education is provided by private schools as well as by government ICDS i.e. Anganwadi centres (AGCs). Needless to say, there is a huge gap between the quality of education imparted in private preschools and government preschools (AGCs). Although the National Policy of Education 1986 (GOI,1986) and its Plan of Action (GoI, 1992) mention the extreme importance of pre-school education, it is not considered a fundamental right and is not fully managed by the educational departments at National or State level either. However, it is partially supported by the ongoing flagship educational programme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA).
Glancing at the private side of the pre-school sector in India, most pre-schools fall into the category of unorganized sector and hence lack standardization over factors like curriculum, infrastructure and quality. Factors like potentially providing a better quality of pre-school education to children make it easy for new players to enter the industry. Also, it is a booming business mainly because there is low/no Government control, low entry barrier in the industry and an extremely high demand from parents (especially from households where both parents are working) because of reasons like an increasing awareness in the importance of pre-school education. According to a recent survey conducted by ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India), the biggest hurdle faced by parents who are applying to primary schools is donation, which ranges from 3 Lakhs to 8 Lakhs leading the parents to invest upto 75% of their income in their children's education.
