Kamaal Gupta is a seasoned business player with 20 + years of experience in managing Operations, Sales, Marketing, Business, and Product development for building and scaling businesses. He is the Business Head of SparkleBox.School, a subsidiary firm based in Bangalore, funded by K12 Techno Services Pvt. Ltd. His key role is to position the brand, the product and business overall objectives. He looks at enhancing and growing the market share of SparkleBox.School (SBS) across the country.
Since the inception of the technological revolution young and curious minds have been striving for innovation in every aspect of life. It was inevitable that it would make its way to the education segment as well eventually. The transformation of knowledge delivery from book to the tech-based virtual apparatus would happen, was something experts were anticipating for some time now. However, when the pandemic hit us it hastily pushed us in the right direction at a much faster pace than we anticipated.
The rise of the EdTech platforms in the Indian education ecosystem came as a breath of fresh air. It not only ensured education continuity in the most adverse situation but also helped break the monotony of pouring over the textbooks and class notes – homework – multiple tests. Young edupreneurs brought many innovative ideas into the system and gave children the opportunity to learn, despite being confined in the four walls of home and also have fun while learning. Children got the opportunity to explore their creative side, logical reasoning, and thinking out of the box and expand their minds by active methods.
Ed-Tech backed by education experts, government, and NGOs
The change slowly began around a decade ago, where syllabus, schools, and technology were integrated on the basic level. But over the years as traditional operation of various verticals started diminishing and up-skilling oneself started gaining prominence, parents and schools started focusing on how they too can make use of it to stay ahead of the trend. Restructuring of the education system with the introduction of the NEP (National Education Policy) was the required boost that the Ed-Tech sector was looking for. This was the point the pioneers in the Ed-Tech sector were making for a long time. The pandemic acted as a catalyst by making the decision-makers in this case the schools and parents realize the advantages of what impact an education system founded on the strong pillars of technology can do in advancing their wards prospects.
Ed-Tech platforms focus on a futuristic, holistic, and simplistic approach which overall builds the personality and robust foundation and allows a child to be more expressive to accomplish their dreams. The government and even NGOs have promptly supported this change in the education system with all the experts rooting for the holistic education of a student irrespective of their backgrounds. Every child is talented but Ed-Tech gives them the edge of being able to help with a unique solution for each student as this is what the traditional education system lacked for decades.
E-books, interactive videos, and educational robots add fun to learning and bring an ample amount of educational value and excitement for students. Ed-Tech democratized student participation irrespective of the social and economic backgrounds of the kids, EdTech platforms continued reaching out to the farthest corners of the country to ensure last-mile delivery. One can easily connect and collaborate with different individuals across the nation and work on the same online project.
Inclusion of AI/ML/AR/VR in education
Data analytics, AI/ML, AR/VR are going to play a big part in education. The inclusion of these technologies will help in making children future-ready and groom them according to the requirements of the industry. The traditional education system somewhere lacked the required infrastructure to support every unique mind and talent that a student possessed. Ed-Tech has however helped them breach that barrier. The success stories of many young entrepreneurs and professionals who are bringing in newer concepts into our market have benefited from the integration of technology with their traditional education.
Tomorrow’s economy depends on today’s education but challenges remain
The economy, advancement, and our standing in the world depend on how progressive our education system is. Hence having a stronger EdTech community will help us keep our education ecosystem updated and innovative in the long run and automatically propel the growth of the country. The
Conclusion
However, we have a long way to go. If you look at the bigger picture so far we have just been able to scratch the bottom of the barrel as the reach of these revolutionary tools is still restricted to the tier-1 and tier-2 cities and many parts of the country are still in Work in Progress mode when it comes to IT infrastructure. A majority of students in India, be it the public or private schooling, reside in the underdeveloped and rural zones, and bringing the digitised learning to them is a mammoth task. Unfortunately, in India, there are still many places and households where education is considered a luxury due to the lack of financial aid or infrastructure, and this leaves many of our talented youth under-skilled and with unexplored potential. Devices, the internet, and other basic facilities are much needed and if we can tap into these zones and help them in their development with a holistic approach, this would lead to a systematic improvement of the education system.
The present and the future belong to Ed-Tech. Together we as an industry have brought in a revolution and together we need to ensure that this revolution reaches every part of our country and benefits every child living here.