Mumbai: With the Indian parents caring no less about the expenditure on education for their wards, there seems to be a visible increase in the number of pre -school institutions operating in the city.

Today, whole of Mumbai and other metros are flooded with pre- schools that are not only systematically designed but are tech-friendly in their approach too. Children are thought in a colorful setting, surrounded with not only child-friendly tech gizmos but also green, blue, orange, red, black blocks, pop-up toys, soft toys, shape sorters, lightweight balls, crayons, pencils and toy cars, among others. In today's IT-age, such learning is surely going to benefit the children in the long run.

It's a part of a new phenomenon in the education sector, that's making its presence in the remotest of Indian towns .The organized pre-school segment is fast spreading into semi-urban India. Places such as Tenkasi, Tiruchengode, Panruti (all Tamil Nadu), Nadiad (Gujarat) and Chittor (Andhra Pradesh) and other tier II places such as Indore or Ranchi are increasingly become home to such pre-schools.

Speaking on the new trend, Mr. Uday Mathur, managing director of EuroKids International Pvt Ltd, says, "It's a growing trend that will revolutionize the way pre-school education functions. It no longer works through the neighborhood aunty system, where housewives run classes to engage children. It's a complete organized set-up."

Presently, the pre-school segment in India is estimated to be of worth $985 million. As per the estimates by brokerage firm CLSA Asia Pacific, the sector is likely to cross $3,426 million by 2012, a growth of 28.3% per annum.