Wednesday, April 11, 2018

EDUCATION SPECIAL.... Tech is not going to replace teachers anytime soon’


Tech is not going to replace teachers anytime soon’

As a founder, an angel investor and a mentor, Zishaan Hayath is a prominent figure in the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem. After graduating from IIT-Bombay in 2005, Hayath worked with ITC and Opera Solutions. In April 2008, he co-founded a phone commerce marketplace, Chaupaati Bazaar, which was acquired by Future Group in 2010. While working for the new entity, he came up with the idea a learning app after realising that students spent enormous amounts of money on coaching classes. Toppr, founded with fellow IIT alumnus Hemanth Goteti in 2013, is a freemium app — the content is free for a limited period after which students pick a paid plan. Toppr has three million registered students in classes 5-12. Hayath has mentored startups such as Ola and Chaayos, and runs angel investment group Powai Lake Ventures. He tells TOI why he thinks only ed-tech can reach India’s thousands of students

Most Indian ed-tech startups focus on students preparing for competitive exams, while those in other markets cater to mid-career professionals or teach coding. What is the reason?
In many countries, the availability and effectiveness of school education is better than our country. We have a lot of children who need to learn but very few teachers and schools. The difference that technology can make in school learning in India is much greater. In other parts of the world, the maximum value for learning is perhaps in skilling those with a strong foundation. Ed-tech in India is vastly underserved. Anecdotally, less than 10% of school-going children have tried any method of learning using technology.
How do you perceive India’s ed-tech space compared with mature markets?
There are more than 400 million school-age students in India. Conventional learning is ill-equipped to cater to such a large number. As per a report by Google and KPMG, the ed-tech industry in India is expected to grow 8x between 2016 and 2021 to $2 billion, making it the fastest growing market in the world. As technology gets better, the role of teachers will change to facilitators for more effective learning, driven and delivered by learning app ecosystems.
Do you think apps will eventually replace real teachers?
There is this constant and misguided thought of technology as a replacement for teachers. Technology acts in one of two ways. One, it helps students in ways that teachers alone would not be able to, for example, on Toppr experts solve doubts for students at 4am, unthinkable without the platform. Two, technology amplifies the effect of teachers. A good teacher can now reach millions of students where he was earlier limited to the seats in his classroom. While technology will help more kids learn better with less dependence on teachers, a teacherless future is very far away.
How much time does a user spend on ed-tech apps?
Publicly quoted numbers for usage on online learning platforms vary from 10-20 minutes on global apps like Khan Academy and Coursera and 40-50 minutes on local ones like Byju’s. On Toppr, a user spends about 90 minutes a day. Younger students tend to spend more time with videos and passive learning modes. Older students spend more time on active learning, such as problem solving and clearing doubts.
What are the challenges you foresee?
The biggest challenge is going to be reaching out to the vast number of students. Online learning platforms are not an automatic choice for students and parents.
While e-tailers are battling it out on customer service and product selection, what are ed-tech companies doing to set themselves apart?
E-commerce companies are like storefronts for other brands. Hence, product selection and transactional experience is all they can improve. Ed-tech is a “full stack” business. We own what the customers get, how they get it and there is one brand that represents the relationship. This long-term relationship is the enabler for customer happiness.

John.Sarkar@timesgroup.com
TOI 1APR18

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