Arunprasad Durairaj talks to Trishna Das about Flinto learning solutions & how to engage students in holistic development
What inspired you to launch Flinto learning SolutionsIJ
Being a father, there were things that I wanted to do with my children such as engaging them in useful activities, getting them away from mobiles and TV, and finding meaningful ways to do so. So, personal encounters and challenges motivated us to start Flinto learning Solutions. We create products, tools, content and activities to promote learning for one to 12-year-old children.
Tell us about the curriculum of FlintoBoxIJ
FlintoBox is a series of boxes for children aged one to 12 and comes with activities that help in the holistic development of children. Parents subscribe to these boxes in three, six or 12-month durations and the kits are delivered home.
Tell us about the recently launched FlintoClass.
FlintoClass caters to the preschool children for two age groups — 1.5 to 2-year-olds and 2.5 to 3.5-year-old. We will soon be expanding to includes 5.5 year-old- too and introduce other languages apart from English. The curriculum is heavily inspired by play-based learning which is very effective. The child is able to discover his interest, passion and skills in a place where he is the most comfortable, i.e. their home.
Is there any Flinto solution for differently-abled childrenIJ
No, right now we have not designed products for the differently-abled children but that’s something we would be doing it in the near future.
How can we engage children in their holistic developmentIJ
A child’s development is mainly classified into physical, cognitive, language and literacy development. But the most important is social and emotional development. These domains are further classified into finer developmental areas.
It is scientifically proven that in the first six years, a child’s brain grows very fast. The brain has potential to do so much that support is needed in early education.
What difficulties did you face in starting out in the pre-school marketIJ
There are two difficulties— one is to find good quality early educators in India. There are very few high quality early educators and training them is also very expensive.
There aren’t many people who understand early education and they can’t teach well. And the biggest bottleneck is to create more preschools. Franchise schools are very expensive and they don’t run properly.
How was the response in small citiesIJ
In the pilot project, we got a very good response from the smaller cities. They are happy to deliver this as any average teacher can deliver the high quality programme there.
What international markets will FlintoClass be targeting firstIJ
We already have a small presence in Dubai, Singapore and Malaysia through our distributors in these regions but the company is not planning to directly enter these markets in the next two years.
India offers the biggest challenge and the biggest benefits for children.