Admission figures in pre-primary schools are still less compared to what it was two years ago, said heads and owners of some of these institutes in the city.
Two years of the pandemic that forced children to stay at home have made parents adept at handling them. They are home tutoring their children before putting them into a high school.
Across several schools, the number of admission is 25 to 50 per cent less from the 2019-20 academic session or before. In most of them, admission has gone up compared to the past two years but the schools are comparing their figures with the pre-pandemic sessions.
“Parents are waiting to see if their children get into a high school. If they do not then they will send them to us in the next session or the remaining months of this session,” said Pooja Dugar, the director of Leap Years Preschool.
Dugar said in the months of August, September and October admission numbers were significantly less as high schools begin their admission process.
Parents are perhaps trying to save on fees because businesses are still recovering, said the head of a school.
“Many people still do not have the capacity to pay,” said Neelakshi Shukla, proprietor, Beginners Montessori House, which has two branches now. Before the pandemic, they had four. Shukla said the numbers were definitely better than what it was in the last two years but nowhere near to what it was before the pandemic.
Parents do not mind keeping the children at home and teaching them on their own, said Nabonita Bose Mukherjee, founder, Bubble Blue Montessori. “Parents are home tutoring them,” said Bose Mukherjee. In the past two years, many parents did not put their children in any preschool because it was online. Some of the schools shut down, some had to ask teachers and staff to discontinue or reduced their salaries to be able to sustain themselves.
“Now, things have reopened but business is not the same. Other expenses have gone up after two years but we are unable to reach the pre-pandemic numbers,” said Bose Mukherjee.
