Career Launcher to open school in Hyderabad

Joining the league of the significantly large number of schools in Andhra Pradesh, is another school that claims to be different. From the stable of the Rs 42-crore Career Launcher, an education company, Indus World School has set its eyes on Hyderabad and will start its operations from the coming academic year.

The USP of this school, according to Satya Narayanan R, founder and chairman of Career Launcher India Limited, would be that students would not be allowed to take tuition. Ironical, the company has been riding on the wave of success of its examination coaching and e-tutorials.

Narayanan, however, reasons by saying, "Students go for such tutorials because they do not get proper coaching at their schools/colleges. Our school will, therefore, restrict students from taking tuition and if a student underperforms or is not satisfied with the teaching procedure, the parents can question the school teachers themselves."

Spanning across 6.25 acres, the CBSE school involves an investment of Rs 5 crore (excluding the land cost). While the junior school (till Std II) will be called Ananda, the school with classes above that will be known as Indus. "In the first year, we intend to have 500 students till Std VI. We will gradually increase to Std XII," Narayanan says.

"It will be a day school where students will come in by 8.30 am and leave by 5 pm. From 2-5 pm, students will spend time in extra-curricular activities like sports, arts and drama. Besides, we will be doing away with the concept of homework," he adds.

And what will a student (rather a parent) have to shell out for this? you ask, and Narayanan replies, "Around Rs 36,000 per year (including food), which I believe is considerably less than what many others charge." This amount is exclusive of the bus fare and books expenses.

Career Launcher Education Fund, the trust that will run the school, has plans to spread its wings across the country.

"We plan to set up 25 schools in three-four years in cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Vizag, Pune, Jaipur, Bhopal, Kolkata, Chennai, etc," Narayanan says. Indore is another city where Indus World will be entering simultaneously with Hyderabad. Plans have also been made with regard to setting up exclusive schools for sports and arts in the near future.

With regard to the core business of Career Launcher, the company plans to set up a business office in Singapore in the next six months for launching its test preparation classes there.

Career Launcher has more than 70 offices in 55 Indian cities besides offices in Dubai, California and New York. The company is targeting revenues of Rs 55 crore this year and has "deferred an IPO for the next 18 months."