Interesting Education Technology/EdTech startups to watch out for in India 2021
After the lockdown began and schools began closing down. Every school started virtual classes. Given kids do not have anything else to do (no matter how sad this situation is), there has been great traction towards EdTech. EdTech startups have seen phenomenal growth and some of them have secured a great deal of funding. Some of them even became “Unicorns” & “Decacorns”.
To understand the size of India’s massive K-12 EdTech space, check out: https://themanagementconsultant.medium.com/education-technology-edtech-market-in-india-guesstimate-9b05256b19d1
It includes the estimate of K12 market size with a guesstimate exercise.
But the more I look at these startups, the more disappointed I get about the education system in India. Conventional schools and coaching institutes have made students follow a rigid curriculum and chase a set of exams. In fact, I am one such victim.
I was looking at my 10th-grade slambook (which is literally non-existent now :P). There was a question “What is your dream?” Reading it, I feel very sad now (probably very normal when I was in my 10th grade) because most of my classmates’ answer was “to become an IITian.” Well, now I feel really sad that not even one of us wrote: “become a lawyer” or “become a journalist” (forget traveling around the world or exploring the moon or anything crazy).
Please share your experiences in the comments. Would really love to know that I was not the only unfortunate one (:P). Just kidding!
The School system did kill a lot of bright students’ creativity by making them chase grades, ranks, and only a couple of exams and not dreams.
Anyway, coming back to the EdTech startups, most of the top ones are making money out of the same sentiment of chasing an exam and marks rather than breaking the convention. However, I did come across a few startups which are working to make learning fun or helping children explore various fields.
Before your jump into the list, I would like to highlight that I do not know any of these founders or folks working with these startups personally. I am just writing to spread the word about these few people who are something interesting in our vintage educational system.
These startups (1,2,3) provide extracurricular classes for kids. They have so many interesting topics from magic to animation to baking, etc. Giving children such exposure would surely make them more creative, boost their confidence and of course, help make friends even while staying at home.
Openhouse makes learning fun for kids by making the class interactive with the teacher as well as fellow students. They have made clubs for students to get together and do something cool together.
Uable is providing real-life learning or experience of various activities and professions to children using a roleplay based approach. They also have several fellowships and programs for kids.
Looking at these startups makes me feel a bit optimistic. Although these solutions are a bit on the expensive side, hopefully, such fun and interactive learning reach the masses.
If you are aware of any other startups which are doing something cool, please share in the comments and spread the word about them. Share this list with someone who you think might find this useful. I hope this will make a few parents give a more fulfilling education to their kid :P
