The public superstructure exposing Indian edtech's vanity metrics -The Ken

India's edtechs had a breakout year in 2020. Byju's now boasts over 70 million users, while Unacademy entered unicorn territory. What these edtech behemoths haven't done, though, is go beyond India's privileged students or prove their efficacy. Now, a patchwork of non-profits is working with state governments to take e-learning to the masses, while also proving their methods work

India’s edtech sector took off like a rocketship in 2020. Shuttered schools meant unicorns like Byju’s minted both revenue and new users

Despite the billion-dollar valuations, does online learning really work? More so, for 50% of students who can’t afford English-only, high-tech solutions

A new collaboration is paving the way for a new “public” edtech infrastructure. One study shows 83% engagement with lessons sent over WhatsApp

A public system's search for metrics has put a spotlight on the lack of any measurements in conventional edtech

On the penultimate day of 2020, Unacademy, India’s second largest edtech unicorn, added a new company, NeoStencil, to its growing kitty of acquisitions. A government test-prep platform, NeoStencil was Unacademy’s sixth acquisition in the past 12 months.

The move bookended a breakout year for India’s edtech industry, which surged as educational institutes shuttered due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Edtech solutions, for the first time, went from being mere after-school remedial “supplements” to the main fare for over 285 million 285 million National Sample Survey, 75th Round Household Social Consumption of India Read more students.

AUTHOR

Olina Banerji

Based in Delhi, Olina writes about mega-trends in urban mobility, education, skilling and the environment, with a focus on how institutions and innovations can help cities grow sustainably. She is a graduate of the London School of Economics, and has worked previously with India Today and global non-profit Ashoka.

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