This year was an extremely challenging one for the education sector. Educational institutes closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and technology brought several ‘firsts’ for the sector. Disruptive changes in online education ensured maintaining continuity in education. Our teachers incorporated technology with élan and included augmented and virtual reality as part of their framework. The future will be about blended learning and education will undergo revolutionary changes that will make it acceptable, accessible, and affordable to students in the remotest corners of our globe. The coming decade is slated to redefine education as technological advancements will further strengthen our education system.
— Rustom Kerawalla, Chairman, Ampersand Group
Edtech moved from the category of a vitamin to a category of pain killer in 2020. We have witnessed the growth of platforms focused on teaching individual subjects, full curricula, hobby classes, professional qualifications, and even meditation. While 2020 was the year of acceptance for readily available Edtech tools, I believe that 2021 will be the year of innovation, consolidation and regulation. We will see significant consolidation of many Edtech systems as the currently accepted solutions become redundant with newer innovations. Consumers will realise their needs better and demand newer solutions. While Edtech has been around for almost two decades, it’s the first time that it has been accepted at this scale. Such scale of traction will attract regulatory implementation from Governments.
We are headed towards exciting times as Edtech has been able to deliver the promise and is ready for the next level of skill development.
— Rishabh Khanna, Cognitive Scientist & Founder of Suraasa
COVID-19 has benefitted education industry's digital adoption. In these times, it enhanced the learning process not just for the students but also the educators. The ed-tech space saw a lot of advancements such as learners were provided with digital first academic support and accessibility, smart assessment and novel types of curriculum in specialized areas such as science, coding and languages. This overall transformation has benefitted both investors and ed-tech start-ups.
This year, we also saw that increasing number of people focused on up skilling which increased the need for online courses (both synchronous and asynchronous). The trend of online learning is seeing an upward graph from here on. To sum up, I can say that the year 2020 has been a blessing in disguise for the ed-tech sector and given us an opportunity to up skill and upgrade ourselves too to deliver the best product out there.
— Sumesh Nair, Founder & CEO, Board Infinity