Preschools in India

Kindergartens provide a wonderful mode of education for young kids. Basic skills are developed in the children through the help of social interaction and creative play. Kindergartens in India are essentially a part of the preschool system. Indian education system follows a structured manner.

Kindergarten education in India is usually divided into certain stages like junior kindergarten, lower kindergarten or senior kindergarten. The age of kids attending kindergarten varies between two to six years. Kindergartens play a vital role in child development. Children learn by playing with educative toys and by interacting with other kids and teachers. They also learn to live away from their parents for a while which helps them in tackling separation anxiety. Teachers play a major role in development of different skills in the children.

Kindergarten education helps in the development of basic motor skills in the child. Kids learn to do few things themselves like eating habits, dressing up and washroom related functions. A child is made to express his emotions which are so very important for his proper progress. The kindergarten environment makes children understand, accept and control his feelings. Good health habits are paid attention to. One of the most important contributions of kindergarten in India is in developing social attitudes, discipline, patience, group skills, manners and etiquette’s among the children. His intellectual curiosities are stimulated with the help of games, artistic activities and teachers’ guidance.

Sufficient opportunities are made available to the children to encourage their creativity and independence. A child learns to communicate and play in the wonderful environment of Indian kindergartens. Course curriculum is devised in such a way that child is motivated to learn language and vocabulary. Subjects like science and mathematics are introduced to the kids.

Kindergartens help children in adjusting with unfamiliar environment which comes very handy during their growing up phase. Kindergartens have a lot to offer to the tender minds. There are numerous quality kindergartens in different parts of India.

Indian education system places special emphasis on kindergartens that provide children with first-hand experience of education and learning. Because of kindergartens, parents are able to feel safe and secure in the knowledge that their children are in good hands. This also enables them to go back to their works in a relatively peaceful state of mind.

Daycare centres are gaining in popularity. They have proved to be of great help for working parents in busy urban life. Daycare centre provides a carefully planned and structured environment where the children get the opportunity to grow and learn in a natural way. A daycare centre essentially refers to a place where another person who is not from the child’s family takes care of him. This usually takes place when the parents have gone to the work.

Daycare center is a wonderful tool in the hands of parents who cannot devote sufficient time to their toddlers. There has been considerable debate over parents’ preference for daycare centers in respect to preschools. Both of these education systems fulfill different needs and requirements of the kids and the parents.

Daycare centers provide activities with the help of which children learn to develop different skills. These centers play a vital role in the development of kids’ mental, emotional and social skills. Children at this age are very sensitive and every step for their growth has to be taken with extreme care and caution. Daycare center focuses on developing social way of learning for the sustained growth of the kids.

Daycares in India are for children of ages’ infant to elementary. Programs at daycares are devised in such a way that kids feel comfortable and enjoy the atmosphere at these centers. As child spends lots of time in daycare centres, a nurturing environment is very essential for his overall well-being. Teachers are more of custodians who care for the kids at daycares.

There are plenty of advantages of daycares in India. The most important benefit that a child gets is of developing socialization skills. By mixing with other children and adults, he starts getting the hang of social interactions which further leads to development of communication skills. He also feels more confident and a sense of self starts getting developed in the child’s psyche. He learns about giving, sharing and different facets of relationships. Because of the better qualified staff and structured learning environment, the development phase of child is well taken care of.

The teaching staffs usually have years of experience which enables them to better care for the kids’ needs. Activities like finger-painting, baby signing, rhyme-time, story session and sand-play etc are designed to fully engage the child in a manner that not only he would be able to have fun but will also experience all-round growth and development.

Maria Montessori founded Montessori schools. She was an educator of Italian origin. The Montessori schools are popular all across the world. They have become synonymous with pre-school education. All credits to Maria Montessori for revolutionising the education for small children.

Montessori schools all over the world including India, follow the principles developed by Maria Montessori. Her principles were focused on developing the child mentally, physically and emotionally. Most of the Montessori schools in India are targeted at children in the age group of 2-6 years. However, there are some schools that also provide courses for elementary, middle and high school.

Montessori schools in India are either affiliated to Montessori association or simply tend to follow the Montessori Method with some modifications of their own. A good number of Montessori schools in India are affiliated and recognized by Association of Montessori Internationale (AMI) set up by Maria Montessori in 1929. There are few Montessori organizations in India like Indian Montessori Association (IMA) and Indian Montessori Centre (IMC) to whom many Montessori schools in India are associated.

It is the strongest desire of each parent to provide his child the best education. But academic achievement is not the only thing that plays a crucial role in child’s development. As a child grows up, he also starts having certain vital needs. The primary aim of Montessori education is to fulfillment of these individual needs.

According to the Montessori Method, a child has the inbuilt tendency to learn by himself. To further develop his naturally gifted skills, he needs an encouraging environment and that’s where Montessori schools come into the picture. Montessori Method has key elements of self-education, instructive materials, trained teachers, individual attention and specially prepared environment.

Montessori schools in India are equipped with different types of Montessori Apparatus that has been categorized into arithmetic material, sensorial material, and language material and so on. At some schools, there are more than 100 types of Montessori apparatus. This way, children learn to grade and classify impressions. Most of the Montessori schools in India are located in metro cities. It has yet to spread its reach in rural or semi-urban areas. However, with changing times, various Montessori schools are coming up in small towns and cities of India.

Play School

The rising popularity of play schools in India boils down to one major change taking place in urban India and that is the emergence of nuclear families. Most of the nuclear families have both parents working and that triggers the needs of sending the child to play schools so that he can have his first brush with education. Play schools help kids in getting prepared for the nitty-gritty of elementary schools.

Indian playschools have made giant strides in recent times. Most of the metro cities in Indian are getting flooded with new playschools who have sophisticated infrastructure and offer quality education to the toddlers. It is very important to have quality playschools because, in a way, they are primarily responsible to build future generation of the country.

At playschools, toddlers learn to interact with children of their own age. This way, they can learn faster and also foray into the world of social interaction. Playschools are made and run in a way that kids feel at home. Presence of quality teachers who employ interesting methods to teach children helps in gradual development of the kids.

Teaching small kids can be really a demanding task but teachers at playschools are up at it. They possess patience and focus on each and every kid individually. Children are made to understand the significance of important days like Independence Day, Republic day, Teachers’ day etc. The course curriculum of playschools is designed in such a way that, all the aspects of child’s growth and development like mental, emotional and social etc are covered.

Playschools help children in coping up with separation anxiety. They start realizing that there is a different world apart from comfort of home and parents. They start developing social skills through interaction with other kids and by taking parts in group activities. They are made to sing, dance and play games with other kids and that really prove instrumental in making children confident and independent. Children are provided with toys that have education value. These toys not only entertain kids but also teach them valuable lessons.

Many international playschool chains are setting up schools in different parts of India. This is leading to an education revolution in India. Parents are feeling more encouraged to send their kids to quality playschools and learn the basics.

Preschools in India

Preschool has become a crucial concept for both child as well as the parents. According to one study, the number of preschools in India is growing at the rate of 40% annually. That really shows how important preschools are turning out to be in the context of Indian education system. Parents, especially in urban areas look forward to enroll their children in preschool because of its obvious benefits. Enrolling kids to preschools helps in preparing them for kindergarten and elementary school. From parents’ point of view, some of them do not have adequate time for the kids because of work and other pressing commitments and for them, preschools come very handy.

Preschools are very important in the initial development of a child’s life. For one, kids get their first taste of education. It is also the first time that they venture out of their comfort zone, i.e., home. They start learning things through play. At this stage of life, kids are not really expected to study. But the actual learning is imparted with the help of interaction with other kids, games, songs and other activities. Children also get to taste independence factor. Preschools contribute significantly in the preliminary education of the child.

Preschools have teachers who also don the mantle of parents. They try to understand each and every child individually. This helps them in figuring out right way of teaching individual child. A preschool has small number of kids so that helps the teachers in focusing on each child individually. Rhymes, games, songs, alphabets and numbers etc are methods through which kids get to lean their first lessons of lives. A child is made to identify different objects. Children are also made to develop different self-help qualities along with basic etiquette’s.

At this age, most of the children suffer from separation anxiety. Preschools aims at making children feel comfortable even while being away from their parents for few hours. From Indian perspective, quality preschools are opening up in different parts of the country. Most of the preschools are private in nature. Franchise model is also evolving rapidly in the preschools. The fact that there is low entry barriers in this segment and number of preschools are relatively low has further helped in attracting quality domestic as well as foreign education players to this emerging segment. The way things are moving in the field of preschools education, sooner than later, preschools are going to have ubiquitous presence in India.