Preschools and daycare centres have been hit hard by the lockdown with many parents withdrawing children and no new admissions this season.

Some of the institutions said sustaining themselves in the aftermath of a lockdown, with no guarantee when they could resume operations, would prove tough.

Letters have already started coming in from some parents, saying they would no longer send their children.

The owner of at least one preschool and daycare facility has decided to close one of its seven centres in the city.

A school head said some parents are “quietly withdrawing” their children without paying the fees.

“A section of parents wrote to us, saying they are withdrawing their children. When we told them that if they come back they will have to take readmission, they said they were fine with it,” said Nabonita Bose Mukherjee, founder principal of Bubble Blue Montessori & Daycare.

Bubble Blue, which has a daycare centre with each of its branches, will close the Narendrapur centre launched in August 2015. The school has three branches in New Town, two in Salt Lake and one in Jodhpur Park.

Bose Mukherjee said if they did not shut down, it would be like “carrying a baggage”.

Heads of schools said some parents were “sitting on the fence” and not communicating or paying the fees.

With rents and salaries to be paid, the schools can sustain themselves from the reserves only for a while if fees are not received.

Mongrace Montessori House and Day Care Centre in New Town has also received mails from companies putting on hold tie-ups for daycare facilities offered to employees.

“They said they are discontinuing since we are not offering any service,” principal Chandrika Ramakrishnan said.

Preschools are feeling the pinch also because the time of the lockdown has impacted admissions.

“We admit 40 to 50 students every March, This year we barely had three or four admissions and even parents who had taken the form and were to come for the admission could not turn up,” Ramakrishnan said.

“We didn’t have admission in April and we don’t see it happening till November.

The six months are crucial for us. These are children who will be ready for high school by the time things improve. It is a loss of one lot of children for us,” said Priti Doshi, the founder director of Primary Colours Playhouse and Montessori.