How to establish a residential school in India

Prospect of setting up a Boarding Schools in India.

India being one of the fastest growing economies in the world has seen a substantial increase of urbanization and growth of middle segment and service class segment. However, with time and more exposure, there is surge in demand for good boarding schools amongst educated parents and they are making a strong comeback.

With Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities receiving exponential development due to employment opportunities with time the concept of nuclear or smaller family size, working parents who are engaged from 9 AM to 6 PM slot, increase in percentage of single parents along with many other aspects, thereby there has been a surge in demand for good residential and boarding schools. As these offerings provides necessary space where the child although being away from parents gets the right environment, support, facilities and platforms to learn in a pristine and green environment.

Boarding Schools in India have certain requirements that needs to be taken into consideration as the right balance and offering of facilities need to be planned for it have an effective value addition and outcome-based learning experience for the student. Erocon School Consultants being the best school consultants in India for residential and boarding school set up in India have the necessary experience and know how along with the right considerations to plan a boarding school set up effectively.

The students while being within the campus should feel at home, enjoy and look forward to their day to day activity, learn more through careful pedagogical approach of their teachers in academics as well as through life skills and multiple other co-curricular activities. For the same, it is necessary to have the requirements sketched out on day one to give a sense of direction to the offering, ambience and learning space development facilitating the right direction of curriculum implementation as envisioned.

Boarding Schools in India have to focus on a lot of aspects as the parents will be entrusting them with the responsibility of the safety, well-being and education of their child. For any new boarding and residential facility schools, the following points are the most important aspects that are directly corelated to the venture dynamics of the new school set up.

  • Air and Railway Connectivity to the Location
  • Location of the School
  • Campus Safety
  • Size of the Land
  • Sports Facilities
  • Residential Facilities
  • Balanced Daily plan
  • Co-curricular activities
  • Club Activities
 

  • Workshops and Programs for Exposure and leadership
  • Meal Facilities
  • On site 24×7 support Staff
  • Tie up with hospital along with full time presence of ambulance in case of emergency
  • Sick Bay and Supporting facilities
  • Progress Monitoring Mechanism for parents
  • Exchange Programs
  • National and International Events
  • Mental and Physical Wellness/Counselling
  • Pastoral Care
  • Career Counselling
  • International and National University Placement
  • Personality Development Practices
  • Life Skill Development

Aspects to be considered while planning a boarding school in India.

Location and Connectivity

Parents always seek for locations that are easily accessible making it easier for them to reach the school and not losing out on vacation days for travelling where the students or parents can easily reach their destination at the earliest. The location should be away from the hustle bustle and pollution of the city while being well connected. Hence depending on the school’s vision and intent for having a PAN India appeal or nearby catchment zones as target areas, presence of good road connectivity, railway network and an operational airport within reach which plays a vital role as an important check point in the minds of the parents to select for a boarding school for their wards.

Market Segment

A promoter while planning for a residential school before procurement of land or initiating planning for any components for the school should be clear in their minds the target segment parents for whom this school is being developed and will get offered in future. Post the same, feasibility for the said segment on the basis of location, connectivity, size of the land and project budget is assessed. Every target segment shall have different expectations from the school. Whether to be residential school having PAN India presence or catering to multiple states or having a catering zone of nearby 60-120 kms catchment defines the direction in which the planning of facilities, offering, fee structure and HR requirements are placed along with necessary brand positioning planning.

Along with identification of the target market segment, the land size, facility plan, concept note, and associated project budget can get derived. For instance, the requirement of land, construction size and facility plan along with its scale shall be very different for an international curriculum boarding school or a premium fee structure boarding school than a mid-segment CBSE or ICSE curriculum boarding schools in India.

Size of the land

In continuation to the points as mentioned under market segment, it is necessary for promoters or developers of the new boarding school set up to understand the facilities they would be required to commission as per market segment and fee structure they would be targeting along with the target market segment along with multiple provisions to meet respective market segment and parents. However, the school planning for boarding school should be planned for provision of 800 – 1000 students as its 100% capacity as a complete boarding school to be developed over a range of 10 – 35 Acre depending on the scale. The land size can be further extended with the intent to cater more residential students or have more premium facilities in place while planning necessary circulation spaces depending on the market segment being targeted.

Whether to have Day boarding facility available or it should be a complete residential school

Having a day boarding facility offering in addition to boarding school facility in India can be possible in locations such as Tier 1 and Tier 2 that have excellent connectivity as well as immediate catchment from where the feed and demand for Day boarding school facility can be captured. If we try to understand while doing a back working, land size in the range as mentioned above near to Tier 1 and Tier 2 zones will always be expensive leading to higher project cost and introducing Day boarding facility if possible to cater to nearby catchments from the similar target market segment as that of boarding school will be an advantage leading to lesser gestation period, higher number of admission strength and better sustainability for the venture. Similarly, if no immediate feed of target segment is not available, then there is no benefit from having a Day boarding provision and facility.

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