Preschools are limping back to life but they are not yet ready to open centres they had shut down in the last two years, at least two proprietors said.
One preschool that had four centres had to shut down two. Another one closed down two of its centres.
Enquiries for admissions have gone up after the government allowed in-person classes in the pre-primary section to resume in February but the numbers are still less than what they were before the pandemic.
The preschools will test the waters before deciding to expand again, they said.
The Telegraph had reported earlier how preschools gave up their premises that were on rent and focused on online classes during the pandemic.
Schools had been shut since March 2020 and classes were being held online as a precaution against Covid.
Rent was a major expense and other overhead costs included electricity, maintenance and infrastructure.
Preschools were one of the sectors worst affected with admission for online classes going down.
Parents were happy to teach their kids at home rather than enrol them for online classes.
“Before the pandemic, we had 850 children. We have less than 300 now, of whom 200 will finish and leave for school in April. It’s like starting from the scratch. We have to get a foothold in the existing branches and then think of opening more,” said Neelakshi Shukla, proprietor and principal of Beginners Montessori House, which is running only two centres now. It had four earlier.
Several like Shukla said they would watch the pandemic situation before deciding to expand.
Preschools are getting calls for admissions but the numbers have to pick up.
“Revenue in the last two years was low. We have to watch for six months at least and not take a hasty decision,” said Nabonita Bose Mukherjee, owner and principal of Bubble Blue Montessori that closed two of its centres in the past two years.
Online, the school’s location was not a factor but with in-person classes resuming, parents want to send children to a preschool that is nearby.
“Everyday, we are receiving seven-eight calls from parents from a location where we closed a centre during the pandemic. We will explore options and reopen in that area but not immediately,” said Shukla.
Young Learners that was operating from CF Block in Salt Lake gave up its rented premises in 2020 and conducted online classes.
In February, they resumed in-person classes from AE Block in Salt Lake.
“It will take us time to reach the pre-pandemic level because many people still do not know that we have reopened physically. We plan to increase our visibility through hoardings,” said Sangita Sureka, principal of Young Learners, Salt Lake.