Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],

I’ve been thinking about taking a break from our weekly rendezvous. I need a week to recuperate from some life-changing events unfolding in my personal life (more on that soon!), and I thought week 30 of Ed Set Go–your weekly go-to for all things education–would be a good time to reflect on some of the most loved issues of this newsletter so far. 

They cover a range of weird and wonderful happenings in education, and they are the ones I enjoyed writing the most.

Top 5 @ ESG

#1 is our very first edition—a breakdown of the baffling cut-off system in Delhi University. With the introduction of the centralised Common University Entrance Test (CUET) now, it will be interesting to see if the whole board marks system gets dismantled.

#2 is a personal favourite. The evolution of #Studygram is the most Gen Z Gen Z can be. And YouTube has become a ripe hunting ground for creative students, who’re making money while doing their homework.

#3 is about the particularly contentious issue of placement reports. In 2010, an IIM-A professor thought B-Schools in India needed a reality check about their (inflated?) placement numbers. Few IIMs complied. Newer management institutes though, in a bid to legitimacy, have taken up the mantle.

#4 is a visual journey through the results-obsessed, test-prep industry in India. No matter how hard edtechs try with fancy marketing, or spend millions to rope in inspirational cricketers and movie stars, the currency of cold, hard ranks still goes the longest mile with customers.

#5 is about the YouTube catch-22 phenomenon. Online educators are caught in a battle of conscience and freedom vs top-notch salaries. And moving between YouTube and edtechs is fraught with peril for the average educator.

Back Bench

Is the edtech bubble near bursting point? There have been a slew of articles pronouncing an early death for India’s edtech industry. There are incipient signs of struggle, runaway customer acquisition costs, and a slow trickle of good talent away from the sector. But chaos at the top isn’t indicative of what’s happening to those edtechs who’re still on their way up. At least, there are optimists who think so.

There are also numbers doing the round which show that incumbents might be losing out to upstarts. For instance, Physicswallah reportedly earned Rs 400 crore (~US$52 million) in revenue, compared to Unacademy’s Rs 380 crore (~US$50 million) in FY21.