Ed-tech companies plan this to move ahead in post-COVID era

He asserted that despite all of its advantages, online education is not a fix-all. He asserted that the industry has started returning to a hybrid form of education as things get back to normal, even though schools have just lately started doing so.

“With the pandemic ebbing, the world is moving towards a more sustainable format of education. As soon as the health crisis hit humanity, everyone, with the help of online learning, moved into a business resilience mode – Edtech came to the rescue. But that was during the pandemic,” he added.

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“But those classrooms are different now. Focusing on a purely online model of education would limit the addressable market for many edtech companies. Hence, several edtech players, in their effort to make education effective and engaging, are using the hybrid route now to build a long-term and sustainable business model,” Rooj said.

Rooj went on to say that the industry is also considering partnerships and mergers, without which many start-ups that can’t make their operations sustainable may experience existential problems and may fail.

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As a result, he continued, larger organisations are assessing M&A (mergers and acquisition) options at a more fair valuation.

According to Aditya Narayan Mishra, HR Director and CEO of CIEL, who echoed this opinion, over the past two years, people all over the world have come to appreciate the benefits of online learning environments, utilising cutting-edge technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and online collaboration tools for learning and assessment.

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“In-person classrooms, group working, brainstorming, laboratory experiments and many such methods continue to remain indispensable tools. Hence, the future of education is the omnichannel model,” he noted. He further said that most edtech companies are headquartered in large cities like Bangalore and they have started their hybrid models in Tier I and II cities, to begin with.

“We think that they will go to Tier III and IV cities soon. Also, there will be more consolidation, going forward, there will be specialised providers focused on specific cohorts and education will be omnichannel,” he added.

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While hybrid learning appears to be the most obvious option to ensure uninterrupted learning, according to the founder and managing director of edtech company Imarticus Learning, Nikhil Barshikar, it gives students the advantage of flexibility through online learning and the chance to interact with their peers and mentors through offline learning.

“Professionals from top metros such as Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad showed the highest intent to upskill in 2021 and 2022, and tier II cities such as Nagpur, Ernakulam, Mysore, Jaipur and Indore emerged as the fastest-growing cities showing demand for upskilling courses. We have classroom, hybrid and online live delivery capabilities across India. We are also actively expanding our operations and penetrating new markets in tier I and II cities in India and overseas,” he added.

In order to increase its presence in tier II, III, and IV cities, the offline competitive test preparation centre FIITJEE started its e-school in February 2022.

After focusing on its offline classroom students throughout the epidemic, the institute chose to enter the online market, according to Partha Halder, academic head of the FIITJEE eSchool.

“Now children can stay at home, without any need to relocate to other cities, save a lot of money from relocation or hostel stay, get that important emotional support from family during preparatory days, yet learn from the teachers of FIITJEE Delhi,” he added.

A robust academic structure, a procedure, and qualified professors who can help students prepare for competitive tests like the JEE, Olympiads, and NTSE are all crucial, according to Halder, who believes that entering the online world is not difficult.

(With PTI inputs)

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