By Pankaj Agarwal, founder & CEO of Taghive.
The Indian ed-tech sector has grown rapidly in the past few years; with the pandemic, enhanced internet penetration and the supportive government policies working as major accelerators. As per a market report, the sector was valued at US$ 1.45 Bn in 2021 and is expected to grow at CAGR of 27.65% from 2022 to 2029, reaching nearly US$ 10.22 Bn.However, while most innovative ed-tech solutions that have been created so far, cater mostly to metros or tier 1 towns which have decent internet and tech infrastructure, causing a major blackout for the tier 2 and rural areas.
While the National Education Policy (NEP) and its supporting initiatives like NDEAR and DIKSHA are working towards building a customised tech infrastructure for wider access to ed-tech across the nation, it is also important for ed-tech start-ups and companies to align their solutions to meet the diverse and specific needs of the hinterlands, if ed-tech needs to truly become an integral part of education in the country.
Here are some edtech solutions that can help bridge the divide and make access to tech enabled learning, a truly inclusive experience!
1. Vernacular learning solutions:
According to a report on vernacular revolution in edtech by RedSeer, students across various edtech market segments (K12, test prep, professional learning), are strongly in need for tech driven solutions in vernacular education. As per NASSCOM, India has 780 languages and 95%of population uses a non-English language for communication. Accordingly, 95%of video consumption is also in vernacular language, however, India’s language service market is less than 1% of the global market. Considering tier 2 and rural markets, the first challenge to be addressed is to make access to technology easier in non-English, Indian languages.
2. Internet agnostic solutions:
As per an IAMAI-Kantar ICUBE 2020 report, India has over 600 million activeinternet users and this number is set to grow to 900 million by 2025. Also, over the past one year, internet users from rural areas have gone up by 13%, with major time being spent on entertainment, online shopping, gaming, social media, video streaming and education. In spite of the steady rise in the of active internet users, there continues to be a lack of consistency and connectivity, making it unreliable for goal-oriented activities like teaching or working. In order to accelerate edtech reach, it would be important for edtech solution providers to create solutions that are not heavily dependent on high-speed and always connected internet environments.
3. Agile solutions to empower teachers:
One of the major challenges of implementing ed-tech solutions in tier 2 and rural areas is the lack of skilled, tech savvy educators. Even basic student teacher ratio in most parts of the hinterland is skewed heavily, with just one or two teachers bearing the burden of educating 100+ students. According to a recent report by the NITI Aayog, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh have an over 40% teacher deficit. Under such circumstances, ed-tech solutions that can be customised to help teachers enhance student engagement in the classroom while taking away their operational burden through AI and ML driven smart solutions can be a game changer!
4. Structured Public-Private Partnerships:
One of the major hindrances in tech innovation is capital support and also access to new markets. And effective public private partnerships can be one of the most significant strategies to fund edtech innovations which can drive inclusive, and holistic tech adoption for education across the nation. With encouraging policy support and through series of opportunities in collaborations with state governments, social impact players, corporates and NGOs working towards education, it is possible to drive value added ed-tech innovations that are not only relevant and accessible to the remotest schools but are also sustainable and well supported to actually create a lasting impact.
To summarise, while India is currently on the fast track to growth and development across sectors, education emerges as one of the most significant value generators for a nation that currently has over a fifth of the world’s youth population. With ambitious goals of becoming a trillion-dollar economy, it is crucial right now, more than ever, for the nation to enable, empower and facilitate access to the best-in-class education infrastructure to its students. And this cannot be achieved without ensuring the villages and towns are making progress as well!