EdTech covers the management of hardware, software, digital tools, and allied services – offering online learning and education or coaching. EdTech promises better digital governance of educational institutions and improved service delivery equitably.
Indian Ed-Tech, in its current form, got its start in the early 2010s. Such as BYJU’S in 2011, Topper in 2013, Physics wallah and Vedantu in 2014, Unacademy in 2015, and we have a lot of example brands who started their journey through the social media platform. But what these brands didn’t realize at the time was that the internet in India was about a explode.
Impact of Low-Cost Internet on Edtech
The rise of easy and affordable internet plans has led to the exponential growth of internet users across the country. Jio network was launched in 2016, and suddenly long-form educational video content streaming became affordable. With the advent of affordable internet, video content rose to prominence.
According to a business article in May 2020, the Edtech startups, which were few in number at the beginning of 2020, witnessed over 37% increase with daily registered visitors of 4.6 million visitors during the first 30 days as compared to 3.4 million visitors daily between April 2019 and February 2020 (Business Insider, 2020).
EdTech as a Game-Changer during Pandemic
The COVID 19 crisis wreaked havoc on India’s schools, colleges, and higher education institutions. The majority of schools and colleges offered students a structured framework for online learning, and they had adequate funding for these services.
Most schools, on the other hand, lacked the necessary infrastructure to accommodate online learning, as well as teachers and a structured framework.
Starting from the initial weeks of lockdown, Edtech platforms swivel into action to capitalize on demand from the education sector.
Learners and teachers increased their screen time as user enrollment increased. During the lockdown owing to the pandemic, millions of people shifted to app-based learning.
Edtech Post Pandemic
As the crisis worsened, education stakeholders and leaders realized that online or hybrid modes of delivery may replace parts of the traditional educational delivery procedures and be a “game-changer” for new-age technology-based Edtech enterprises.
During the pandemic, few Edtech start-ups, like Udemy and Coursera, were particularly successful in exploiting the higher education landscape by working with universities and the corporate sector.
These Edtech organizations have utilized the rise of the internet in a quite innovative fashion. As of June 2021, Bengaluru-based BYJU has become the market leader at a valuation of USD 16.5 billion, making it the world’s most valuable educational technology company.
One major focus of the Edtech industry is Certification, which is predicted to increase in response to the growing working population and business sector.
