NEP stresses importance of early childhood education, positioning pre-school years as crucial for lifelong learning

Day care and pre-school learning have expanded very fast in India. With both parents working, the demand for enrolling children in day care and pre-schools is rising each year. ‘The Banyan’ is one of the oldest pre-school brands in India with 22 years of operations. The company, which operates more than 30 centres across various states of the country, is focussed on providing experiential learning to children for their holistic development.

In an interview with the Bizz Buzz, the company’s cofounder, Swati Jain said that the company operates all its centres on its own and don’t give franchises as it lays a lot of importance to maintaining quality. She said that the company is planning to open its pre-school centres in IT parks and related office spaces for providing professionals an opportunity to be closer to their children.

‘The Banyan’ is the education vertical of the Best Group, which is a diversified conglomerate with four decades of operations across manufacturing, future factory solutions, and education. Given the sound financial backing, the company wants to expand its total centres to more than 200 in the next five years.

It doesn’t plan to raise capital as the group will support its expansion plan, Jain said. She also said that though there is a lot of competition in the pre-school segment, there is space for everyone to grow.

Can you provide a brief overview about the operations of ‘The Banyan’? What motivated you to set up a preschool brand?

We started the company in 2003. In today’s world, mothers are facing the challenge of caregiving and maintaining their career in a balanced way. So, ‘The Banyan’ was built to support an ecosystem of childcare that enables parents to pursue their career goals.

What begun as creating a holistic childcare ecosystem, has now evolved into a platform that empowers parents, especially the women. The company was also inspired by our own experiences. When we were looking for a pre-school for our second child, we were not able to find a decent school, which could provide experiential learning.

That is the reason that we decided to set up ‘The Banyan’. With more than 22 years of experience, 20,000 plus children served, and 100+ corporate partnerships, we combine care, systems, and innovation to help parents work with peace of mind and help companies retain talent. At The Banyan, we’re not just raising children we’re empowering women and shaping a stronger future for families and workplaces in India.

Are you the only founder or do you have cofounders?

The Banyan was founded in 2003 by Nitesh Jain and Co-founded by Swati Jain to support working parents especially mothers who needed reliable, high-quality childcare.

Today, we are one of India’s leading preschool and corporate day-care networks, backed by the Best Group’s strong legacy and infrastructure.

Preschool space in India is very competitive. What are the unique features of ‘The Banyan’? Can you provide a brief overview on this matter?

We are redefining childcare in India. At the same time, we are empowering the working parents. It is just not a pre-school system as it is based on experiential learning. Holistic development of children happens in our pre-school system.

At the same time, we are empowering professional women with reliable, system-driven child care with transparent communication.

We provide personalised learning to children. There is milestone tracking of improvement seen in the child. We are in constant communication with the parents. So, we are leveraging technology in making the learning experiential. But, technology is not only thing we rely on.

We have very well-trained and empathetic staffers, who take care of children and help them to learn effectively. Our employee count is around 180-200 employees.

Of course, there is competition but the NEP (National Education Policy) puts a lot of focus on learning on early childhood.

That is the reason that the framework wants to take all the institutions working in this space like day care, child care, Anganwadis etc under one umbrella. It means there will be more standardisation. So, this space is going to grow. Yes, there is competition but there is space for everyone to grow.

How many branches are there of ‘The Banyan’? What kind of presence the company has across all states?

We currently operate centres across Delhi NCR, Rajasthan, Maharashtra,Gujarat,and Karnataka, and now offer PAN-India childcare solutions through on-site and near-site day-care models. In total, we operate more than 30 centres in cities like Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, and other cities.

We cater to children aged 6 months to 12 years and are growing Pan India.Our vision is clear, that is to make quality childcare accessible at every workplace so no parent has to choose between career and family.

As far as our operational model is concerned, we don’t follow the franchise model. We operate our own centres as we want to maintain the quality. The NEP (National Education Policy) puts a lot of emphasis on pre-school learning of children.

The policy recognises pre-school as the foundation for life long learning. There is a lot of importance given to holistic development of children. So, policy now transforms day care to early child care.

Can you throw some light on the expansion plan of the company?

We want to scale responsibly. We plan to open new centres. Our Pan India plan is to open more than 200 centres and partnerships in the next five years.

Our focus will be on maintaining the quality as we scale. As far as fee is concerned, we charge as per programme, the child is joining on. We provide various programmes like full day programme, half day programme and others. Depending on the programme, the fee structure has been designed.

What kind of corporate tie-up is done by your company? Can you provide some perspective in this matter?

That is the plan. We are planning to open centres in the IT parks and related offices where parents can enroll their children. It is on the cards. We are planning to open such centres soon.

Have you raised capital so far? Are you planning to raise capital in the near future?

No, we have no raised capital so far. The Banyan is the education vertical of the Best Group, which is a diversified conglomerate with four decades of operations across manufacturing, future factory solutions, and education.

With operations in 17 locations across India, Best Group serves key sectors including automotive, consulting, technology, and education.We are not planning to raise capital as we are a very self-reliant company.