Covid19 has completely disrupted playschools. With schools shut down, teaching and learning have got disrupted. Governments have come up directives, which potentially restrict innovation. There are nearly 40,000 pre-schools India, catering to the early childhood development of kids. Research says 90% of brain development happens before the age of 5. Loestro Advisors conducted a webinar on “Bring back the Play in Playschools” on July 2, 2020. Rakesh Gupta, Managing Partner of Loestro Advisors was the moderator and the list of panelists were Prajodh Rajan, co-founder and group CEO, Eurokids International; Priya Krishnan, founder of Klay PlaySchool and Day Care and Bhavin Shah, CEO of EducationWorld. 

Regarding the Loestro Advisors webinar on “Bring back the Play in Playschools”, Rajan said that pre-schools and K-12 schools are closed, but learning is still on is the way to approach the situation. Initially parents viewed it as an extended end-of the year break, but now there is no end in sight, parents are getting anxious.

Eurokids made investments in platform, so that synchronous and asynchronous classes to ensure uninterrupted learning – “Phygital mode of learning”, that is, physical + digital. It also introduced the Home buddy program to help parents continue learning; launched a health helpline for parents for queries regarding health of children

Meanwhile Krishnan took a blended model where some activities are child-led, some parent facilitated and some where both are participating. This is particularly useful for working parents as worklife integration gets accelerated given the COVID times. 

She added, that government role lacking, “quasi regressive”.

Teachers had to deal with job losses while others have adapted to the new reality very creatively – online education. Parents play a key role in ensuring engagement, emotional health during this time.

Online interventions for uninterrupted learning has resulted in demand that is building up; so some revenues have been trickling in.

Although the bigger question on everyone’s mind was when pre-schools could be expected to open; no one really know when things are going to return to normal. Poll survey among attendees was conducted which resulted in a similar finding. “Virtual learning however is here to stay”, says Shah.

Independent pre-schools will struggle even when demand build is back, it’ll move towards branded pre-schools. Consumer preferences will move as health, safety, hygiene will become paramount.

Check out the full video here:

Also read: EW Webinar on Online Education: The Good, Bad and Ugly