By Shalini Sharma, CEO & Founder, Hi Kalpaa, Chain of Preschools
Early childhood education in India is undergoing a gradual but meaningful shift that’s worth watching closely. The National Education Policy 2020 has helped bring renewed attention to early learning by emphasising play-based approaches and improved access, echoing global thinking around curiosity-led education rather than early academic pressure (Economic Times).
Alongside this, efforts to modernise community learning spaces and align early education with global practices are underway, though uneven in reach and execution across regions (ORF; The Poly Kids).
However, from my vantage as a founder navigating this terrain, the most important changes are happening beyond policy documents. They are visible in classrooms, in parent expectations, and in the difficult decisions entrepreneurs are making while building early education institutions that are meant to last for generations.
School Readiness as a Deeper Shift
School readiness is still widely misunderstood as early exposure to academics, a view I’ve encountered countless times. Research consistently shows that readiness is far more closely linked to a child’s social, emotional, and self-regulation skills than to early literacy or numeracy (Child Encyclopedia). These skills are developed through play, interaction, and guided exploration—experiences that allow children to build confidence, adaptability, and a sense of agency in ways formal drills never could.
When these foundations are missing, the consequences appear early and persist. Studies tracking children’s transition into primary school point to measurable learning gaps in the first year itself, particularly in comprehension, attention, and classroom participation (IJPE). What is often overlooked is that these gaps are not simply the result of preschool quality, but of how prepared the schooling system is to receive children.
This has led to a growing body of work arguing that schools themselves must become “ready” by adjusting expectations, teaching practices, and classroom environments to support children with diverse early experiences (Early Childhood Australia). Research comparing parent and teacher perspectives further reinforces that alignment across home, preschool, and school environments plays a decisive role in easing transitions and setting kids up for sustained success (ResearchGate).
Seen this way, school readiness is not a checklist. It is a structural question about how early learning connects meaningfully to the rest of the education system, demanding collaboration at every level.
Challenges in Growing Preschool Networks
As awareness around early education grows, so does interest in building organised preschool networks. Yet scaling in this sector comes with constraints that are often underestimated by newcomers.
Preschools are deeply physical businesses at their core. Safe infrastructure, child-friendly design, outdoor play spaces, and basic digital systems require sustained investment which is particularly challenging in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities (Loestro Advisors). Unlike many service sectors, compromises in early education infrastructure directly affect learning quality and trust.
Franchising has emerged as a popular growth strategy, enabling faster expansion and local ownership that feels authentic. While this has helped meet rising demand, it has also surfaced challenges around standardisation that can make or break a brand. Maintaining consistency in pedagogy, teacher training, safety practices, and parent engagement across multiple locations requires continuous oversight (Entrepreneur India).
Human capital remains the most fragile part of the ecosystem, bar none. Early childhood educators are expected to manage complex emotional, behavioural, and developmental needs, yet the sector struggles with limited training pipelines, modest compensation, and high attrition rates. This instability affects not just operations, but children’s sense of continuity and emotional safety in profound ways. At scale, additional pressures from compliance requirements to supply coordination further test organisational resilience. (Hughes).
Preschool networks that endure tend to invest early in teacher development, shared operating systems, and clear quality benchmarks, while allowing space for local adaptation to keep things grounded. In early education, sustainable growth is deliberate, patient, and rooted in reality.
Key Market Trends for Entrepreneurs
Parental expectations around early learning have shifted noticeably. Families today are less focused on early academic acceleration and more concerned with creativity, emotional resilience, and real-world skills. This has driven demand for experiential, play-led, and
STEAM-based approaches that encourage exploration rather than rote instruction (Wow Kids).
Technology is increasingly used to support these models; not as a substitute for in-person learning, but as a tool for personalised insights, seamless parent communication, and operational efficiency. Market projections suggest steady growth in India’s preschool sector through the next decade, driven by urbanisation, demographic trends, and rising awareness of early learning’s long-term impact (Technavio).
Research on entrepreneurship education indicates that early exposure to autonomy,
problem-solving, and reflective learning influences long-term attitudes toward adaptability and initiative (ResearchGate). Thought leadership in this space increasingly points toward education models that prioritise flexibility, inclusion, and ethical scale over uniformity, urging us to think bigger (LinkedIn Pulse; AB Academies).
For entrepreneurs, this means success will be defined not just by expansion, but by the ability to build systems that evolve with children and communities.
What Leaders Should Do Next
India’s early childhood education future will hinge less on standalone fixes and more on true alignment by melding readiness with on-the-ground truths, growth with unwavering quality, and bold vision with steadfast duty. School readiness must be understood as a shared system outcome. Scale must be supported by strong operations and people. And education entrepreneurship must keep long-term impact at its core.
If these elements come together, early childhood education can quietly become one of India’s most powerful foundations; supporting not just better schooling outcomes, but a more capable and confident generation.