Early childhood education describes the period of learning that takes place from birth to 8 years old. Safe, responsive, and nurturing environments are an important part of supporting the learning and development of infants, toddlers, and play schoolers.
This is often emphasized by preschools that provide a suitable learning environment for the children to grow. Thus, when developing a preschool curriculum, they adopt a holistic learning approach that taps into multiple dimensions of children’s personality, i.e., from their social and emotional to physical and cognitive development.
The concept of holistic learning and development has been taken seriously at Hello Kids Chain of Play School / Preschools, which wants young children to develop social, emotional, and academic skills in order to cope with the demands of the world. It runs on the principle that investing in a child’s development can turn them into responsible adults in society. This is the sole objective of holistic development.
Pritam Kuman Agrawal, the Founder, started with his first Hello Kids Play School Centre in Bangalore in 2005 and currently runs a robust franchise network with over 750+ play schools across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Being passionate about early childhood education, he has travelled to lengths and breadth of the country to understand the play school/preschool industry in India.
Aligning with his vision, Mrs Sunita Jain, the CEO, has looked over Hello Kids’ operations and supported its growth since 2007. Despite the challenges and lack of clarity, she has always demonstrated her dedication to promoting early childhood education in the country, which truly makes her a real leader and an entrepreneur.
Let’s learn about how Pritam and Sunita together have turned the vision of early childhood education into a reality.
The inception of Hello Kids
Hello Kids is India’s leading brand, being the fourth largest play school/preschool chain. Pritam and Sunita after their three centers of Hello Kids at Bangalore from 2005-2009. Together they began Hello Kids franchising in 2009, with India’s first No royalty charging franchise model that has been the key to the preschool’s success.
Despite its success, the journey hasn’t been a straightforward path for Pritam and Sunita. Initially, they struggled to seek compliance from the country’s administration in running a play school/preschool. But that didn’t stop both of them from pursuing their objective. With the support of the head office, they were able to address and resolve any obstacle that had come their way.
As a result of their determination, today, Hello Kids is one of India’s most awarded and fastest-growing play school chains, accredited to the best early childhood organisations, both in India and overseas.
Core Values, Mission, and Vision
Hello Kids operations firmly abided in its mission for the children to experience the best of both worlds, i.e. Eastern culture with Western competitive standards. The preschool aims to preserve and enhance the highest standards of culture and intelligence to prepare a winning generation for the 21st century. It is confident in its children, who are likely to grow up to be accommodative, caring, sharing, and bright individuals. Through the preschool’s warm environment, the kids will grow into adults who are confident, strong, and emotionally balanced.
These objectives are run through Hello Kids’ vision of being the leader in the preschool industry in India by providing the best education to its young children.
Ensuring Holistic Development
For the preschool to ensure that its young children are able to seek the right level of education—for their physical, emotional, and social development—it has structured a comprehensive curriculum model. This curriculum is age-appropriate, well-researched, and has adopted the best practices in early childhood education from around the world. Aligned with NCERT, CBSE, ICSE, Cambridge, IB, or any State Education Board, the curriculum uses the Maria Montessori Approach, Theory of Multiple Intelligence, Life Skills, and Experiential Learning in order to keep the minds of young learners stimulated.
In addition to this curriculum, Hello Kids understands the importance of play for young leaders in order to ensure that they are given the opportunity for holistic development. For this reason, play is an integral part of preschool. For the early years’ kids, this may come in the form of role plays, life skills and experiential learning, and stage exposure that stimulates their social, emotional, verbal, and physical development overall.
Looking Ahead
So far, with Hello Kids serving young learners through its best curriculum, it has become the fastest-growing preschool chain that operates on the best franchisee model. It has won 100+ awards that reflect its position in the country.
Looking ahead, Hello Kids aims to become India’s largest chain of preschools by December 2023, with over 1000+ revenue-generated centres across the country.
Achievements and Recognitions
Hello Kids has attained recognition from some of the top media houses of India, such as—The Franchising World, Outlook Money, The Times of India, Business Standard, Forbes India, BW Education, The Economic Times, India Today, and Times of India-Preschool Survey.
