Several preschools are diversifying and starting “new verticals” to stay relevant and sustain themselves during the Covid pandemic.

At least two of them have started a course for parents and one among them has also reached out to parents in other cities for online classes.

The franchisee owner of another preschool is now concentrating on activities for school children rather than remaining only a preschool.

The preschools are having to deal with dropouts since the beginning of the pandemic and many parents have not been keen on enrolling children for online classes, several preschool heads said.

“There have been dropouts and we have waived off the admission fee, too. This disturbed the cash flow. To sustain ourselves and the staff, there has to be other channels of cash flow,” said Pooja Dugar, the director of Leap Years Preschool.

In many preschools, owners have to pay the rent and also the cost of equipment.

Leap Years Preschool has started a parents’ training programme on phonics and numbers for parents. “We are training the parents who can home school their children,” said Dugar.

She said parents feel they can teach their children identification of colours or fruits, flowers and animals at home and do not need to put them in an online class for it.

The preschool, therefore, has to offer them something else that would make them believe it is adding value.

Bubble Blue Montessori is set to prepare the parents to home school their children better. The school will do sessions with parents for children from three months and hone the skills of parents, principal and owner Nabonita Bose Mukherjee said.

“We will make the parents aware of the capabilities of their children and not focus on academics alone but also on social activities,” said Bose Mukherjee. “It is also true that with the age group we are dealing with, parents have a tremendous contribution whether it is to teach the children or help the children attend online class.”

Many parents are not keen on online classes for their children because it’s a struggle to keep the young ones to sit in front of the screen during the class. "Parents need to be patient for at least seven to 10 days for their children to acclimatise with the online classes,” said Dugar.

In a franchise of Junior DPS Ballygunge, the owner is concentrating on activities for older children with the preschool admission remaining dismal.

The school started in November last year and though a few admissions happened in January, the lockdown hit the school hard.

“I diversified and concentrated on calligraphy, drawing abacus classes and also online events. I have to pay rent for the place and pay the staff, and for that I need to think of alternatives. It is still not enough but I can manage and hopefully will be able to overcome the crisis,” said Puja Saraf, the owner.

For older children parents do not have to sit through the entire length of the class like the preschoolers.

Recently she hosted a halloween party for children online. About 20 children registered for it and it included doing a craft, scavenger hunt game and a magic trick for the children.