Future of edtech will be multilingual, hybrid, and personalised, say experts at TechSparks 2021

The edtech sector in India has been making tremendous progress, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which accelerated the adoption of digital education due to the closure of educational institutions across the country, brought an unprecedented opportunity for the sector in India. 

According to a report by RBSA Advisors, the Indian edtech sector is slated to reach $30 billion by 2032. 

At TechSparks 2021, YourStory's flagship event and India’s largest and most influential tech-entrepreneurship conference, a panel discussion titled ‘Discovering the next frontier in edtech’ saw Mukul Rustagi, CEO and Co-founder, Classplus; Aditya Bhushan Verma, Co-founder of PrepBytes; Amit Kapoor, Co-founder, Eupheus Learning; Sudakshina Ghosh from SAP India; and Divya Venkatavaraghavan, Principal of Lightrock, come together to discuss the growth of the edtech sector over the past few years, the impact of the pandemic, and what lies ahead for the Indian edtech ecosystem. 

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Trends in the ecosystem

The panel discussion saw many stakeholders from the industry coming together to highlight various trends prevailing in the sector. 

Mukul Rustagi of Classplus pointed out that the last few years have seen an uptick in the demand for non-academic courses. He added that a lot of queries for different courses are coming in from Tier II and Tier III cities, which is a relatively new trend.

Aditya Bhushan Verma, Co-founder of PrepBytes, explained, that while individuals from Tier I cities had a lot of awareness about education, the same was not true for people from Tier II and Tier III cities. COVID-19 has turned the tables as there is a significant demand coming in from smaller towns. 

Another trend that has beset the Indian edtech space is personalisation. Aditya said there is a growing awareness among educationists around the fact that one size does not fit all. While schools need different tools to cater to different kinds of students, students need different and innovative tools to enhance the process of learning.

According to Amit Kapoor, Co-founder of Eupheus Learning, making more vernacular content will help in reaching out to a wider pool of students as well as ensure that consumers from Tier II and Tier III are not left out. 

Technology oiling the wheels of education

When COVID-19 pandemic struck Indian shores, the education sector was particularly at a loss. Schools, students, and teachers struggled to blend into the system of online learning, something that was unheard of before. Today it has become a norm.

Amit said, “Teachers have realised that using technology can make their life easier.” 

Sudakshina Ghosh, Industry Business Architect Team Lead, Industry & Customer Advisory Practice, SAP India, said, technology is very important as it helps in scaling and delivering better quality of education programmes. She added that adopting and integrating cloud-based models and other technologies ensures greater return on investment.

Divya Venkatavaraghavan, Principal of Lightrock, said, the biggest outcome of using technology is that it has made administrators and teachers more productive. 

“Cheaper hardware and data will further accelerate the growth of edtech in India,” she added.

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Future of edtech

The panelists agreed that the future of edtech is going to be hybrid and multilingual, and personalisation will play a huge role. 

Technology is going to be the propeller that will push the growth of this sector all the more. It will break barriers such as geography and enable children to dream big, said Vivek.

Sudakshina concluded by saying that if digital edtech platforms can help in achieving basic literacy, numerical, and problem solving skills, then the future of children belonging to the 21st century is secured.

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