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Bringing edtech solutions to the next half billion

As entrepreneurs ride the internet wave to build and provide disruptive edtech solutions, it is important to remember that we’re only just scratching the surface with its possibilities.

• Today, there are about 260 million students in K12 schools and 30 million in higher education institutions
• Further, there are 75 million children in the 3-6 year early childhood category, while at the other end of the age spectrum there are hundreds of millions of working professionals in need of constant upskilling due to the evolving nature of their jobs.

By Namita Dalmia

Today, there are about 260 million students in K12 schools and 30 million in higher education institutions. Further, there are 75 million children in the 3-6 year early childhood category, while at the other end of the age spectrum there are hundreds of millions of working professionals in need of constant upskilling due to the evolving nature of their jobs.

Families rely on education as a gateway to opportunity and a meaningful life. Hence, 40% of K12 students go to private schools and one-fourth students, from both government and private schools, opt for after-school tuitions. Despite this, learning and employability outcomes remain poor. Only 26% of Grade 5 students can do a simple division (ASER 2016), 38% of youth in age 14-18 can apply mathematics to the real-world problem of calculating ‘discount’ (ASER 2017), and 56% of employers continue to report talent shortage (Manpower Group 2018).

However, it isn’t all bad news. India’s increasingly mobile-first outlook offers the solution. In July 2018, 390 million Indians were consuming nearly 8GB internet data each month. Over the next five years, half a billion more will come online for the first time due to declining internet prices and improving connectivity. Given the education outcomes gap and India’s growth in mobile penetration, education technology or edtech provides us a tool to level the field. But in order to capitalise on this opportunity, edtech entrepreneurs will have to build trust with the users, just like many other sectors have—for example, bill payments, travel and online shopping. Over the last few years, we have learnt the following ways in which edtech can overcome some of these trust issues:

Rooting in sound, holistic pedagogy: Great teachers focus on deep conceptual learning, real-life applications, personalised feedback and continuous motivation. While most edtech provides some of these, they miss out on other crucial elements. These solutions then rely on successful implementation—at home by parents or in-class by teachers, which is often lacking. Vedantu—a full-stack, live teaching solution—bridges this gap by combining the skills of a great teacher with an AI-personalised platform for individual learning support and providing an academic mentor for motivational support.

Keeping users at centre: Any edtech solution must keep both teachers and students at the centre of the solution. For a decade, a large amount of content has been created and made available but has failed to see significant pull from users. Doubtnut, a learning app, on the other hand sees organic adoption and engagement with its doubt resolution feature that solves pain point of students when they get stuck solving tricky problems.

Linking & ensuring outcomes: Exam results and competitive examinations ranks are yardsticks that help parents and schools to measure outcomes. Offline players like tuition classes have created brands on the back of the outcomes. Edtechs have surfaced but need to accelerate outcomes in order to win in the long run. Similarly, upskilling programmes for working professionals, English language learning for vocational learners and coding boot camps for university students can demonstrate success through job placements or increased wages.

Going beyond ‘academic’ outcomes: Developing competencies like critical thinking and creativity, and mindsets such as grit and empathy are vital to quality learning and crucial for learners to succeed as the workforce of the future. There is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to build solutions that focus on building 21st century skills and integrating these in the pedagogy of academic subjects. Code.org is an example of a platform for building logic, creativity, algorithmic thinking skills by teaching students how to code.

Optimising pricing: Edtech sold direct to learners will eventually need to replace offline purchases and not just remain supplemental in order to create value through monetisation. It must reduce the burden on both parents’ wallets and students’ time and so a full-stack solution has higher potential than a fragmented offering. Moreover, offering trials or small-size purchase options before a full purchase is a useful strategy to break trust barriers with first-time customers.

Building cultural relevance: A majority of learners are comfortable in vernacular or bilingual medium of instructions, even when they go to “English-medium” schools. Platforms like Khan Academy, DIKSHA, Doubtnut cater to this need. Besides localising content offerings, edtech entrepreneurs should adopt relevant UI/UX and product flow strategies that will work with their target segments.

As education entrepreneurs ride the internet wave to build and provide disruptive edtech solutions, it is important to remember we’re only just scratching the surface with its possibilities. But there’s no doubt that the education sector is ready more than ever for disruption at scale.

The author is principal, Investments, Omidyar Network India, an investment firm focused on social impact

Source: https://www.financialexpress.com/education-2/bringing-edtech-solutions-to-the-next-half-billion/1554971/

Tags: CSE, edtech, india, online education, stocks, tsx, tsx-v