It all started in the year 2010 when just 10% of India’s population had access to the internet and smartphones were not common. Then in between 2014 and 2019 more than 4,450 of them were launched. We are talking about India’s edtech companies that have made online learning & coaching a common concept in India.
Over the years, these edtech platforms have been the driving force behind the sharp rise in demand for online certification courses. Just like Flipkart and Amazon made Indians comfortable with online shopping, these edtech companies have made students and teachers comfortable with online learning. We call this Education Revolution 1.0.
Over these years, the edtech companies built not just a great tech platform, but also built a huge student base through some excellent digital marketing. Some of the most sought brands such as UpGrad today have a registered base of more than one million students on their platforms. For this simple reason, it’s easy for these edtech companies to easily sell a new course and even achieve multifold revenue growth year after year.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the growing student base of these edtech companies had demonstrated the tremendous market potential of online education. But not many Indian universities, colleges or institutions had warmed up to this idea. The universities, colleges & institutes believed they represented the mainstream education, while online learning & ed-tech platforms remained a parallel medium of education preferred by only a minority and definitely not appealing to the majority.
But the Covid-19 pandemic turned this thought head over heels. With everything shut, virtually every university, institute & college has resorted to online classes. Education Revolution 1.0 was very gradual and most of the universities, colleges & institutes didn’t see it.
But we are today on the brink of Education Revolution 2.0 – A new approach to education that will see massive adoption of digital technologies by the Indian education ecosystem thereby changing the way students discover & enroll in courses, learn & complete assessments, and in every other aspect related to education.
- From discovering courses from friends & family → To discovering courses online
- From fee payment at counter → To online fee payment & enrollment
- From classroom based learning → To online learning
- From offline exams & assessments → To offline exams + online assessments
Education Revolution 2.0 will see transition to new digital technologies in an extremely short time. Universities, institutes & colleges have no choice but to undergo this transition. While in 2010, just 10% of India’s population had internet access, that figure today stands at 41% with more than 560 million internet users in India. It’s clear that universities, institutes & colleges that don’t digitally transform might still survive, but will definitely not thrive.
A digital transformation is certainly overwhelming, but it is what we excel at. If you are a university, institute, college or an academy, hit reply and we’ll get started with your digital transformation immediately.