Could Tiny Schools Be The Next Big Thing In Indian Education? The Story Of India's Micro School Evolution

On a balmy morning in Bengaluru, as the city's tech workers settle into their glass-paneled offices, Helen Issar welcomes a small group of children to Papagoya, her Norwegian-inspired microschool.

The youngsters, ranging from three- to eight-years-old, scatter into a sunlit room adorned not with multiplication tables and alphabets, but with natural materials and open-ended toys. There are no uniforms, no rigid timetables. Just the gentle hum of childish conversation and the occasional burst of laughter.

When the fees structure for admission to Bengaluru's prestigious Bishop Cottons Boys School circulated online recently, it catalysed a national debate about education costs in India. Social media erupted with incredulity at what mainstream education had become—a package of steep tuition, regimented learning, bureaucracy, standardized testing, and inflexible curricula.

For middle-class families across the country, annual school fees that often reach into the lakhs represent a significant financial sacrifice. Yet despite these costs, many parents question whether traditional schools truly prepare children for an increasingly unpredictable future.

"Joy and play, fundamental elements of childhood, have been replaced by metrics and milestones, even for three-year-olds," Issar explains. Issar abandoned a successful marketing career to reimagine early education.

Unlike conventional institutions with hundreds or thousands of students, microschools typically serve dozens of children in intimate learning environments.

Their smaller scale permits more personalized attention, adaptable curricula, and innovative pedagogical approaches. It's a tantalizing proposition. Neighborhood schools operated by locals with parental participation, potentially more affordable yet still preparing children for competitive examinations.

After managing the biggest fund for education infrastructure under the Ministry of Human Resources and Development, he decided to venture into the microschooling space not because he was against the idea of conventional schooling but because he believed that the vast demography of India deserved to have quality alternatives to mainstream schooling.

"If the core philosophy is to force the child to work in silence and not make noise, you are depriving the child of any agency. We culturally come from very agrarian and mobile communities, many children learn well through motion and movement. This aspect is not catered to in mainstream schools."

Similar sentiments are echoed by Dr Poornima, the founder of Agile Shaala. A neuroscientist with a doctoral degree in molecular neuroscience, she speaks with the quiet intensity of someone who has seen both sides of the educational divide.

Shivani of The Learning Center finds age-based grouping not only restrictive but unnatural: "Whether it was in families, gurukuls, or traditional apprenticeships, learning—and living—has historically taken place in vertical, multi-age communities. It's only recently that we've moved to artificially segment children by age, and in doing so, we've ignored the immense value of peer learning across developmental stages."

One significant advantage microschools possess is their minimal capital expenditure compared to board-affiliated institutions. While this reduces operating costs, it also places them in a regulatory grey zone.

While CBSE board affiliation requires a minimum of 8,000 square meters (approximately 1.98 acres) of land—with specific cases allowing 6,000 square meters (1.48 acres) if enrollment limits are observed—and demands the land be owned or leased for at least thirty years as a single, contiguous plot, microschools have no such requirements.

Their spatial needs depend largely on the philosophy guiding the school. Both Papagoya and SPOT demonstrate how small spaces within metropolitan areas can be transformed into learning hubs.

Microschools also facilitate greater parental involvement, potentially becoming genuine community enterprises. At Agile Shaala, love for the subject, teaching, and children takes precedence over formal credentials when hiring educators. "Expertise can be taught and developed; love for learning is largely inherent."

Their faculty includes PhD holders, professionals who discovered a passion for teaching during sabbaticals, and parents who, after enrolling their own children, decided to contribute more actively.

Similarly, SPOT Microschool offers specialized programming for twice-exceptional (2E) gifted children who demonstrate remarkable talent in specific areas but may face challenges, often in social skills, connecting these students with industry mentors for guidance.

The question remains: can microschools truly become an affordable alternative to conventional education?

Despite limited infrastructure expenses and lower operational costs, this doesn't necessarily translate to reduced fees. Microschool tuition ranges from Rs 35,000 to Rs 3.5 lakh annually, depending on factors like location, student-teacher ratio, pedagogy, and examination board.

In cities like Bengaluru, Coimbatore, or Mysuru, the Rs 60,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh range positions microschools at the same level (or slightly below) as conventional institutions. While not substantially more affordable, they remain comparable to traditional schooling.

The cost issue appears to be one of scale—particularly evident in student-teacher ratios. Ratios of 1:4 or 1:10, versus 1:30 or 1:60 in conventional schools, inevitably increase per-student expenses.

Helen Issar, while passionate about Papagoya's play-based approach, acknowledges the necessary diversity within educational ecosystems. "There is no single solution, it cannot be a one size fits all," she emphasizes, recognizing that established boards like "CBSE and ICSE schools still have value." "I don't want to say one is bad and the other is better," she clarifies, advocating for a pluralistic understanding: "there will be something for everybody."

The Counter View: The Bastion of the Privileged

The Oxford School in Mysore presents an interesting case study. What began as a modest microschool has now evolved into a full-fledged CBSE-affiliated institution with a sprawling campus and a student strength of 250.

For its chairman, Nagesh, this transition was a pragmatic one. “Concepts like microschooling are still largely the bastion of the rich,” he observes. “In our school, we have an even split — about 50 per cent of our students come from poor, rural, agricultural backgrounds, and the rest from urban, educated families.

Nagesh also emphasizes the significant role that parents play in the microschooling model — a factor often overlooked in rural contexts. “For micro models to work well, the home must be an active learning environment. But in the case of many rural children, who are often first-generation school-goers, that foundation simply doesn’t exist.”

Contrast this with the parents at the Learning Center, many of whom relocated to Goa to not only escape the hustle of cities but also give their children opportunities to connect with nature and lead a slower pace of life. Such an arrangement works only because the parents are not passive participants but function as part time facilitators.

SPOT acknowledges this limitation and has worked around it through a unique dual-use model. “From the beginning, we were conscious of the gap in learning access between children in government schools and those in private systems,” explains founder Midhun Noble.

“That’s why SPOT functions as a community space — in the mornings, it operates as a microschool for children from more privileged backgrounds, offering them the choice of IGCSE or NIOS.

"In the evenings, the same space becomes accessible to children from low-income families, allowing them to engage with enriching resources they would otherwise be denied. In a way, we operate on a Robin Hood model.”

Addressing the question of affordability, Helen Issar of Papagoya Microschool provides a nuanced take.

"So fees vary widely depending on each school’s model and structure — it’s not fair to paint all microschools with the same brush.”

As India sprints toward economic prosperity, staking its future on educational excellence, these small educational experiments represent a countercurrent—modest in scale but profound in implication.

In a country where parents routinely channel both financial resources and aspirations into their children's schooling, microschools propose a radical notion, that education might be both more human and more effective when it grows smaller rather than larger. 

Whether they will flourish or remain educational curiosities may ultimately depend less on pedagogy and more on that most pragmatic of Indian parental concerns—whether the microschools can truly prepare children for the enormously competitive world that awaits them.