CHENNAI: After a gap of two years, the State government has allowed playschools and kindergarten classes to reopen from February 16. However, many playschools in the city are not in a position to restart operations on the scheduled date.
Though parents are eager to send their toddlers to school, they might have to wait longer, as many playschools in the city need more time to put in place the necessary infrastructure. "We will have to start from scratch. As there was no certainty over when playschools will be allowed to operate again, we had vacated the rental premises on which our school was operating. We had also relieved 70 per cent of teachers and caretakers. Now, we need time and money to make arrangements. It will be difficult to start school on February 16 as I have just started searching for a new place for it," said Malini Srinivasan, owner of Twinkling Stars playschool in Velachery.
The preschool sector was hit hard by the pandemic. According to those in the business, not less than 100 playschools in the city were forced to close down during the pandemic. However, there is no official figure in this regard.
The playschools which are still running in the online mode are struggling to stay afloat. "In the past two years, almost all other businesses and institutions were opened, except playschools. Though we are conducting online classes, our revenue has dropped to almost 60 per cent of the pre-COVID level," said S Govardhan, a retired teacher who runs two playschools in Madipakkam.
He said he will make a decision on reopening only after consulting parents. "We need to hire caretakers and teachers to handle the toddlers at school. Adding to it, we need time to sanitise our buildings as they were closed for two years. We will take time to reopen," said Govardhan.
Shilpa Arun, principal of Tiny Tots playschool, said, "For the next few days, we will wait and watch. I don’t want to invest again amid this uncertainty."