BYJU’S makes strong offline push with plan to launch 500 tuition centres in 2022
Edtech giant BYJU'S announces programme that blends offline and online learning experiences, and aims to launch 500 offline tuition centres across 200 cities this year.
on Thursday announced its foray into offline centres with the launch of BYJU'S Tuition Centre, a comprehensive programme that blends offline and online learning experiences. The edtech unicorn plans to enroll one million students into this programme in the next two years.
The edtech giant aims to launch 500 centres across 200 cities this year. Each of these centres, spread across an area between 600 and 3,500 sq feet, will have five to eight teachers in addition to operation heads, service counsellors etc.
This will translate into about 18-25 staffs per centre, creating 10,000 job opportunities, Himanshu Bajaj, Head of BYJU’S Tuition Centre, told YourStory.
Last year, BYJU’S launched the Education for All social initiative, under which it claims to have helped 3.4 million children access education through digital learning and aims to empower 10 million children from underserved communities by 2025.
Himanshu said, “Owing to the pandemic, students had to oscillate between offline and online learning, but this new BYJU’S offering will address complex concerns of students and parents across the country. BYJU’S Tuition Centres is the next step in personalised learning."
The centre will offer students:
1. Two-teacher model in tech-enabled physical centres
2. Teacher-student personal connect, supported by analytics-led assessment of progress and performance
3. Access to BYJU’S online ecosystem
"By keeping students’ requirements at the core, we hope that this new offering will stand as an example and achieve scale, resulting in nurturing future-ready students, and a forward-looking and unique academic environment.”
Keeping pace with the current scenario and student requirements, with this launch, BYJU’S is "reaffirming its student-centric approach, and creating new and innovative experiences, products, and services based on learners' real needs".
Taking digital to offline
“Since we launched our app in 2015, there were two clear lines. Certain sections were convinced about online learning and others believed in physical education. But with the large exposure to digital learning in the last two years due to COVID, a set of parents have understood that online learning can also happen,” says Mrinal Mohit, Chief Operating Officer, BYJU’S.
“However, there is a set of parents who like online but still believe in the need of physical elements in learning. This is catering to this set of customers, who want a physical element in addition to the online teaching,” he said.
The new initiative is aimed at providing quality education and eradicating the digital divide in the country by offering a comprehensive programme for students.
Available for students in Classes 4-10 for math and science, BYJU’S Tuition Centres will be tech-enabled physical tuition centres that provide learning experience with a focus on engagement and better outcomes through the two-teacher model.
Under this model, students will attend classes in these centres as well as online. Each classroom will be fitted with a large TV. There will be a ‘master teacher’ teaching through the TV. There will also be a teacher in class, to take care of physical elements such as interaction, doubts etc. Each class will have cameras installed to analyse student feedback.
“We are not going from digital to offline. We are, in fact, taking digital to offline,” Mrinal said.
The tuition classes were started with 20 centres in December 2021. At present, this number has increased to 80 centres with about 500 teachers on board across different tiers.
BYJU’S plans to open more centres and expand to more places and introducing more student-friendly offerings in the coming years.
Edited by Teja Lele