Taking baby steps to regulate pre-schools Premium

Karnataka government introduces mandatory registration for pre-schools to ensure child safety and regulate fees.

Exactly how many pre-schools are there in Karnataka? The Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) has no accurate answer to this question, thanks to the fact that there has so far been no system in place for registering all pre-schools in the State.

A lack of separate rules and regulations or a consistent monitoring system has led to the mushrooming of private pre-schools or early childhood care education centres across Karnataka.

While pre-schools running as part of government and private schools are obtaining permission from the DSEL, most stand-alone pre-schools are operating without any approval. In addition, most of those run by corporates as franchise schools and pre-schools too are operating without a monitoring mechanism.

There have been allegations that the government or the DSEL has no control over pre-schools, and parents are being exploited by way of exorbitant fees, expensive textbooks, etc. In addition, questions have been raised about the safety and protection of children.

Now, for the first time, the Karnataka government has taken steps to register all types of pre-primary schools, including play homes, Montessori, and nurseries, with objectives including child safety and streamlining of private pre-schools.

The DSEL issued an order on May 27, 2025, stating that, as per the Karnataka Educational Institutions (Classification and Registration) Rules, 1997, pre-primary education means non-formal education below the first standard for children between the ages of three and five, whether called play homes, Montessori, nursery, etc. The department stated in the order that all “newly started” pre-schools must be registered compulsorily.

Trusts and school managements have been allowed to apply before starting new private unaided pre-primary schools through the newly developed online module on the Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS) portal.