Gurgaon: After the success of its enrichment program, My Club Spark, Skilltap has launched its first pre-school in Gurgaon. Preschool Spark is an initiative by an award-winning IIT-IIM alumni venture, having International associations with Trinity Guildhall London, CSTD Australia, and a 35 year old US-based organizationfocused on early childhood learning, with its widely popular international preschool program being used across the globe.

SkillTap was launched two years back by two passionate IIT-IIM alumni, Arpana Shahi and Gaurav Gupta, with the vision to make learning experiential, effective and fun. Over the last two years, the venture has received great feedback from parents for“My Club Spark”, offering after-school enrichment programs for kids. The venture has been awarded the Best Personality Development Institute across Delhi-NCR for 2013 as well as 2014 at the Education Excellence Awards. Preschool Spark is the next promising venture from this passionate team!

Spread across 15000 sq. ft. sprawling green campus, the school offers a safe, child friendly & hygienic set up, with live CCTV surveillance.  This includes an all season indoor play area with a soft gym set up, and an outdoor play area with lush green surroundings. Best-in-class facilities as per international standards have been created to provide a stimulating and fun experience for the child. Dedicated activity zones, “Full of Life”, and a largerole-play area, “Characterize” are integral to the programs.

This international preschool program follows NAEYC USA standards (National Association for the Education of Young Children) and DAP USA standards (Developmentally Appropriate Practices).

The launch of Preschool Spark witnessed eminent panelists joining the panel discussions on the importance of first five years for a child and the need to focus on holistic development for the child.  Panelists included Parul Ohri, Editor, MyCity4Kids,GeetikaBhandari, Editor, Child Magazine, Supreet Oberoi, Parenting Expert and Arpana Shahi, Director, SkillTap. Ritika Ratna, Speech & Drama expert from Trinity Guildhall London joined as one of the judges for the inter-school Public Speaking competition “Center Stage”, which saw participation from many top schools in Gurgaon with over 60 kids participating in it.

With the trained, experienced and caring facilitators, the school creates a fun and nurturing experience for the child. Small Teacher-Child ratio, not exceeding 1:6, ensures high individual attention for each child. With a strong management team, the school plans and focuses on even the minutest level of detail to ensure that the first experience away from home is memorable and enjoyable for the child.

Arpana has graduated from IIT Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta, and Gaurav is from IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta.  From their experiences of travelling around the world as part of their job and on vacations, they could see a gap in the programs being offered in India compared to the expectations of the educated, professional and well-travelled parents, who may also have lived outside of India for few years.

Keeping in mind this unmet demand for high quality programs for kids as per international standards, with best-in-class infrastructure, trained facilitators and integrated technology platforms, Arpana and Gaurav conceptualized the idea of Skilltap.

Arpana Shahi, Founder & CEO, SkillTap, says, “Our programs aim to make learning effective, experiential and fun. The unique programs are based on thorough research, designed by experts in association with international organizations. We leverage technology and best practices from across the globe to create innovative offerings for learners. The programs for kids follow our proprietary framework – Me, My Friends and My World – creating a win-win for the parent and the child, where the child can explore and learn while having fun.”

The team has invested the first 1.5 years to get the product right – defining it, piloting it, iterating and revising it. They are now expanding across the there business verticals – launching their own preschool, “Preschool Spark”, adding more centers for their after-school programs with “My Club Spark”, and taking their Speech & Drama programs to schools to be integrated as part of the school curriculum.

With the launch of Preschool Spark, parents in Gurgaon have another promising option to give a wonderful start to their child.