close icon

Get a free demo

By using this website you agree to our cookie policy
AcceptDeny
< All posts
Trends

Latest in media: COVID-19 hastening the need for education’s digital transformation

Our latest media feature in India Today, authored by our very own Chief Wizard, Sachin Dev Duggal.

Team Builder
Editorial Team @ Builder.ai®
August 10, 2020



Latest in media: COVID-19 hastening the need for education’s digital transformation

At Builder.ai, we like to use every chance we get to empower businesses across industries with our expertise. This was precisely our motivation for recently launching our monthly virtual event series called Builder Live - that helps everyone, from entrepreneurs to enterprises, scope out their ideas, clarify doubts and shed inhibitions that may be stopping them from taking their business to the next frontier through digital transformation. In our latest media feature, Sachin ponders on how India's education system has particularly felt the prolonged effects of the country's lockdown. Is the government helping? Can technology really be the answer? Read on.

The Covid-19 pandemic has continued to present unprecedented effects across the world. Globally, lockdown measures have been enacted to contain its spread, which in turn, has disrupted regular business and social activities. Amid this emergency, countries have been forced  to adapt to a “new normal” of living. With social distancing measures also enforced, people have been encouraged to connect with their friends and families digitally, while businesses have had to  operate remotely.While there are numerous success stories of how people and enterprises have adapted to the crisis via technology, less has been said about the virus’ effect on education. The pandemic has affected over 60 percent of the global student population, as governments around the world temporarily closed schools to limit the spread. India’s education system has particularly felt the prolonged effects of the country’s lockdown. In response, educational institutions across the country have started adopting more digital teaching practices and tools to bridge physical divides, showing signs of a long-anticipated evolution. However, are such measures mere stopgaps introduced in light of the pandemic, or can they be sustained to foster longer-term digital transformation in education?  

Covid-19 pegged back India’s education ambitions

India has made significant gains in education over the past decade, as the number of out-of-school children has decreased and enrolment at all education levels has risen overall. Covid-19, however, has disrupted this transformation, challenging the patterns and practices of India’s education system and impacting the education of nearly  320 million students in the country. To evolve and emerge stronger, the sector must adopt more innovative approaches that could foster greater paradigm shifts in age-old methods. Social distancing is one factor that has led to compulsory online sessions with more parents warming up to the concept of e-learning. This has encouraged the demand for online learning platforms and even the involvement of tech giants such as Google are working with the government to make digital learning easier and more accessible across the country. 
‍

The digital evolution of education in India may seem inevitable, given that the nation is the world’s second largest internet market. Even before the pandemic, however, India had been experiencing concerning drop-out rates - a result of the disproportionate access to education. This problem has only grown progressively more serious during the pandemic due to the disparity in internet access. While we typically tend to associate this problem with more remote and poorer communities, less than half of urban households have trouble going online too. 

Accelerating education’s digitalisation

This is not to say that no efforts have been made to bridge the digital divide. State initiatives such as ePathshala, are helping to familiarise excluded communities with e-learning, providing educational online resources for educators as well as children and their parents. More recently, the government also launched the PM eVIDYA programme as a way to broaden multi-mode access to digital education. The sudden disruptions caused by the pandemic, however, mean that long-term digitalisation efforts need to be supplemented with initiatives designed for the immediate recovery of India’s education sector. 

Enterprises engaging in India’s burgeoning EdTech sector can help bridge this digital divide. The growing internet and smartphone penetration rates in India – coincided with the ongoing pandemic – has created a higher demand for e-learning. As a result, the online education market in the country is projected to grow by over US $14 billion until 2024. 

Several notable companies are emerging to cater to this demand. BYJU, an e-learning platform that can be accessed via smartphones, provides programmes in both English and Hindi to make learning and the understanding of concepts easier for students. Some of BYJU’s key features include elements of machine intelligence, such as the creation of Knowledge Graphs to personalise learning journeys based on each students’ learning needs, as well as data analysis that helps make practice more engaging and in depth. As one of India’s most valued unicorns at US $8 billion, the platform has currently garnered 35 million registered students and over two million annual paid subscriptions. 

Another e-learning company growing in popularity is Gradeup, designed to help students prepare for competitive exams. The company’s main product is Gradeup Classroom, which offers live courses from faculties around the country, namely via live classes, mock tests, interactive quizzes and even 24/7 mentorship (students can interact with fellow peers and mentors). The company has experienced significant growth and expects its enrolments to exceed 150,000 users next year. It also raised US $7 million in its Series A round to help its expansion to smaller cities and towns.

Sustaining the new normal for India’s education

The Covid-19 pandemic is transforming education in India – revolutionising longstanding teaching practices that were mostly confined within physical classrooms. While online learning is still nascent, we can expect the future of India’s education to include more emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT). Both of these technologies can potentially transform digital classrooms to be more immersive, where students can feel a sense of ‘being there’, as educators will have more capacity to integrate rich media such as video and audio to design digital curriculums and content across multiple devices. 


As India emerges from the Covid-19 crisis, the future of education will still present challenges. The demand for digital transformation is not a short term phenomenon, but rather an accelerating trend that the country and its education sector stakeholders are trying to make more ubiquitous.   As with every crisis, there is opportunity. For India’s education sector, it is about leveraging modern technologies to bring nationwide education access to new heights.


Found it useful? Share it on:



Team Builder
Editorial Team @ Builder.ai®
Stories published by the editorial team at Builder.ai®.
View all posts from
Team Builder
Arrow right

Related articles

App
$1,000 vs $10,000 vs $100,000 Apps - What's the Difference?
$1,000 vs $10,000 vs $100,000 Apps - What's the Difference?

All the factors that determine the total cost of developing a mobile app.

Lakshmi Devan
December 21, 2020
Marketing
10 inspiring podcasts for the entrepreneur in all of us
10 inspiring podcasts for the entrepreneur in all of us

One of the best ways to learn and grow is through listening.

Erica Grigg
May 13, 2019
10 signs you're destined to be an entrepreneur
10 signs you're destined to be an entrepreneur

#BuilderGeneration is about embracing that entrepreneurial spirit!

Team Builder
June 12, 2018

Related case studies

Builder Studio
Pepsi
Pepsi

Innovation at the edge of this enterprise eventually led to huge tangible improvements in costs and time efficiencies.

View case study
Arrow right
Builder Studio
Xander Group
Xander Group

Digitizing their real-estate business ($3 billion in equity investments since 2005) with a heavy focus on innovative technology.

View case study
Arrow right
Builder Studio
Siam Makro
Siam Makro

How we helped Southeast Asia’s largest cash & carry create an order management system – 98.3% cheaper than their previous SaaS solution.

View case study
Arrow right
View more

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter to get monthly updates on new posts, discounted tickets for our events and possibly some candies, too.

Blog newsletter subscribe image
Builder.ai logo
Software as easy as ordering pizza
Try it for free
Right circle
Builder Studio app building illustration
Builder.ai logo
Facebook Logo
Facebook
Twitter Logo
Twitter
LinkedIn logo
LinkedIn
YouTube logo
YouTube
Instagram logo
Instagram
Products
Builder Studio
Builder Care
Builder Cloud
Studio Rapid
Resources
App Builder
Website Builder
Guides
Case studies
DevOps
Company
About us
Careers
Partners
Reach us
Blog
Press
Contact us
Builder.ai®, 6th Floor, North West House, 119 Marylebone Rd, London NW1 5PU.
Copyright © 2022 Engineer.ai Corp. All rights reserved.
Terms | Privacy | CCPA | Cookie | Legal and Compliance
CogX awards budge
CogX awards budge
trustpilot reviews
Builder.ai logo
  • Solutions
    carot down
    Build icon
    Build
    Builder StudioTM
    Start building your software now.
    Builder Now®
    Create a custom prototype.
    Studio RapidTM
    Create enterprise apps fast.
    Studio StoreTM
    Online starter kits for small business growth.
    Manage icon
    manage
    Cloud OneTM
    Make savings on your cloud bills.
    Cloud ControlTM
    Pay only for what you use.
    Cloud WalletTM
    Never overspend again.
  • Why choose us
    carot down
    Who is it for icon
    Who is it for
    Enterprise
    Take pressure off your team.
    SMBs
    On-budget and tailor-made software.
    Entrepreneurs
    Turn that dream into reality.
    > Builder Care
    Case-studies icon
    Case studies
    The BBC
    Siam Makro
    Xander Group
    > Check all case studies
  • Resources
    carot down
    About us icon
    About us
    Blog
    Latest tech industry news.
    Builder Live
    Join us for virtual events.
    Industries
    Custom software for every sector.
    Guides
    Grow your business.
    > About us
    > Careers
    Extras icon
    Extras
    > Create an app from scratch
    > Watch explainer videos
    > Studio pricing
    > Ebooks
    > In the news
    > Press Kit
    > FAQs
    > Become a partner
  • Why Builder?
  • Solutions
    carot down
    Build icon
    Build
    Builder StudioTM
    Start building your software now.
    Builder Now®
    Create a custom prototype.
    Studio RapidTM
    Create enterprise apps fast.
    Studio StoreTM
    Online starter kits for small business growth.
    Manage icon
    manage
    Cloud oneTM
    Make savings on your cloud bills.
    Cloud walletTM
    Pay only for what you use.
    Cloud controlTM
    Never overspend again.
  • Why choose us
    carot down
    Who is it for icon
    Who is it for
    Enterprise
    Take pressure off your team.
    SMBs
    On-budget and tailor-made software.
    Entrepreneurs
    Turn that dream into reality.
    > Builder Care
    Case-studies icon
    Case studies
    The BBC
    Siam Makro
    Xander Group
    > Check all case studies
  • Resources
    carot down
    About us icon
    About us
    Blog
    Latest tech industry news.
    Builder Live
    Join us for virtual events.
    Industries
    Custom software for every sector.
    Guides
    Grow your business.
    > About us
    > Careers
    Extras icon
    Extras
    > Create an app from scratch
    > Watch explainer videos
    > Studio pricing
    > Ebooks
    > In the news
    > Press Kit
    > FAQs
    > Become a partner
  • Why Builder?
  • Pricing
  • Sign in
  • Get a free demo