Connect with us

MAM

How Preschool Franchises in India Are Integrating Play-Based and Experiential Learning Approaches

Published

on

Walk into a good preschool today, and you’ll notice a shift: fewer worksheets, more blocks, sand trays, puppets, music, and children moving with purpose. Indian preschool franchises are building learning-through-play into the timetable, and adding hands-on experiences that connect lessons to daily life. For parents, it feels joyful. For franchise owners, it’s also a dependable way to deliver consistent quality across centres.

Why play is moving to the centre

Early years learning works best when children can touch, try, repeat, and talk about what they are doing. India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the Foundational Stage push have encouraged schools to reduce rote work and strengthen activity-based learning. Franchises are well placed to adopt this because central curriculum teams can design a clear approach, then train every centre to follow it.

What “play-based” looks like in a franchise classroom

Most organised networks now plan the day around short guided sessions and longer play blocks. Teachers set up materials, model language, and observe. They don’t “teach a chapter”; they create a situation where children discover ideas and practise skills. 

Many classrooms run in small groups so children can choose activities and stay involved. You’ll often see stations like:

● Language and stories: picture books, puppet play, rhymes, and storytelling

● Maths and thinking: sorting, counting, pattern blocks, puzzles, and simple games

● Sensory and making: sand, water, dough, paint, clay, and safe loose parts

● Role play: a mini-kitchen, clinic, vegetable shop, or post office set-up

Because franchises standardise the learning goals for each theme, the play stays purposeful even when children set the pace.

Experiential learning beyond the classroom

Experiential learning is where franchises are getting more intentional. Many programmes now include a weekly “experience day” that brings real-life tasks into the theme. A unit on “plants” might involve sowing seeds, watering them daily, and recording growth with drawings. A unit on “community helpers” could include a visit from a nurse, a chef, or a traffic police officer. 

In Indian cities, short neighbourhood outings are often easier than big trips: a walk to a fruit vendor, a nearby park, or a small library. In smaller towns, centres may partner with farms, dairies, or local artisans. The aim is simple: link new words and ideas to real sights, sounds, and people, so children remember them. 

To keep experiences safe, franchises follow standard operating steps: parent permissions, child-to-adult ratios, first-aid kits, and short routes. Inside the centre, clear storage and sanitisation routines reduce mess and illness, especially during sensory play. These systems let teachers focus on learning, not firefighting.

Training teachers to guide, not lecture

Play and experiences only work when teachers know how to facilitate without taking over. Franchises are investing in educator development because it protects quality as they expand. Many use a “train-the-trainer” model: master trainers coach centre heads, who then support teachers through observations and feedback. 

Support usually includes demonstration lessons, weekly planning formats with clear goals, and refreshers on behaviour guidance, safety, and inclusion. This also helps address a common parent worry: that play means “time pass”. Good teachers can show, in the moment, how play builds language, attention, problem-solving, and social skills.

Spaces and materials designed for discovery

A visible change in franchise preschools is in classroom design. Furniture is child-sized, storage is reachable, and materials are rotated so the room stays interesting. Many centres add simple “mini labs” for early science: colour mixing, floating and sinking, magnets, and shadow play – using safe, everyday items. 

This affects budgeting too. The preschool franchise cost is not only about branding and fees; it often includes learning kits, sensory materials, outdoor play equipment, and planned upgrades. Operators who budget for these from day one find it easier to maintain standards without cutting corners later.

How progress is tracked without pressure

Assessment is also changing. Instead of tests, franchises use documentation that captures growth over time. Teachers note what a child can do during real activities: speaking in a group, solving a puzzle, or cooperating in pretend play. Portfolios, short observation notes, and simple milestone tracking are shared with parents in plain language, so families can see progress without exam stress.

Parents as partners, not homework monitors

Because Indian parents are deeply invested in early learning, franchises spend time explaining the approach. Orientation sessions, open houses, and demo days help families understand why play matters. Many centres share weekly ideas that fit home life – sorting laundry by colour, counting steps, naming vegetables at the market, so learning continues naturally.

What to look for when choosing a franchise

If you are evaluating options, ask to observe a class and read the day’s plan. Look for children who are engaged, teachers who speak with warmth, and a classroom that feels safe and organised. The best preschool franchise for your location is usually the one with strong training and daily teacher support, not just a good launch kit. 

A reliable sign of real integration is that play and experiences are built into the timetable and curriculum, backed by regular coaching and clear parent communication.

The outcome that matters

When play-based and experiential learning are done well, children leave preschool curious, confident, and ready for primary school. They learn to communicate, collaborate, and think, without losing the joy that early childhood education is meant to protect.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

MAM

Nielsen launches co-viewing pilot to sharpen TV measurement

Super Bowl pilot to refine how shared TV audiences are counted

Published

on

MUMBAI: Nielsen is taking a fresh stab at one of television’s oldest blind spots: how many people are actually watching the same screen. The audience-measurement giant on February 4 unveiled a co-viewing pilot that uses wearable devices to better capture shared viewing, starting with America’s biggest broadcast stage.

The trial begins with Super Bowl LX on NBC on February 8, 2026, before extending to other high-profile live sports and entertainment events in the first half of the year. The goal is simple but commercially potent: count viewers more accurately, especially during live spectacles that pull families and friends to one screen.

The new approach leans on Nielsen’s proprietary wearable meters, wrist-worn devices that resemble smartwatches. These passively capture audio signatures from TV content, logging exposure to shows, films and live events without requiring viewers to sign in or self-report. In theory, fewer clicks, fewer lapses, better data.

Karthik Rao, Nielsen’s ceo, cast the move as part of a broader measurement push. He said the company’s task is to keep pushing accuracy as clients invest heavily in live programming that draws mass audiences. The co-viewing pilot, he added, builds on upgrades such as Big Data + Panel measurement, out-of-home expansion, live-streaming metrics and wearable-based tracking.

Co-viewing is not new territory for Nielsen, which has long tried to estimate how many people sit before a single set. What is new is the heavier integration of wearables and passive detection to reduce reliance on active inputs from panel homes.

For now, the pilot comes with caveats. Co-viewing estimates from the trial will not be folded into Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel ratings, which remain the industry’s trading currency. Instead, pilot findings will be shared with clients a few weeks after final Big Data + Panel ratings are delivered. Clients may disclose those findings publicly.

More impact data will follow later this year. Full integration into Nielsen’s marketing-intelligence suite is slated as a longer-term play, with a target of bringing co-viewing into currency measurement for the 2026–2027 season. This is only phase one, with further co-viewing enhancements planned beyond 2026 and additional timelines to be announced.

The push fits a wider pattern. Nielsen has in recent years expanded big-data integration, adopted first-party data for live-streaming measurement and broadened out-of-home tracking. It also positions itself as the reference point for streaming metrics through products such as The Gauge and the Nielsen Streaming Top 10.

In a market where billions of ad dollars hinge on decimal points, counting who is in the room matters. If Nielsen can pin down shared viewing, the humble sofa could become prime measurement real estate. The race to count every eyeball just found a new wrist to watch.

Continue Reading

Brands

Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board

Published

on

Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.

Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.

“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.

The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.

Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.

The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.

Continue Reading

MAM

Meta appoints Anuvrat Rao as APAC head of commerce partnerships

Published

on

SINGAPORE: Anuvrat Rao has taken charge as APAC  head of commerce and signals partnerships at Meta, steering monetisation deals across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp from Singapore. The former Google executive, known for launching Google Assistant, PWAs, AMP and Firebase across Asia-Pacific, steps into the role after a high-growth stint as chief business officer at Locofy.ai.

At Locofy.ai, Rao helped convert a three-year free beta into a paid engine, clocking 1,000 subscribers and 15 enterprise clients within ten days of launch in September 2024. The low-code startup, backed by Accel and top tech founders, is famed for turning designs into production-ready code using proprietary large design models.

Before that, Rao founded generative AI venture 1Bstories, which was acquired by creative AI platform Laetro in mid-2024, where he briefly served as managing director for APAC. Alongside operating roles, he has been an active investor and advisor since 2020, backing startups such as BotMD, Muxy, Creator plus, Intellect, Sealed and CricFlex through a creator-economy-led thesis.

Rao spent over eight years at Google, holding senior partnership roles across search, assistant, chrome, web and YouTube in APAC, and earlier cut his teeth in strategy consulting at OC&C in London and investment finance at W. P. Carey in Europe and the US.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2026 Indian Television Dot Com PVT LTD