A strong guru-shishya bonding through ed-tech

Kavita Bajeli-Datt

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Your old road is rapidly ageing, exhorted legendary Bob Dylan in the 1960s. The worn out ways of imparting and imbibing education have certainly changed in the Indian classrooms where technology has placed students and teachers on an upward learning curve trajectory.

A number of start-ups are pumping this ascending push lending a whole new meaning to the guru-shishya (teacher-student) dynamics enshrined in the traditional Indian education system.

Byndr, Talentedge, Embibe and Vidyanext are some of the names of these digital tool masters — Ed Tech players as they are popularly known — which are silently scripting transformation of Indian classrooms. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana-based Byndr claims to connect teachers, students and colleges on digital platforms offering learning solutions.

“Most of the education softwares in India are focused on automation of administration in the college, Byndr focuses on helping teachers, students and colleges enhancing learning experience using technology,” said Satish Namapally, Co-founder and Head India (Sales and Operations) of Byndr.  

“When it comes to using technology for learning the basics, technology adoption is necessary by users and we have done extensive research to build our platform using latest social and mobile technologies to keep students engaged. And for teachers we made it very simple and easy to use.” Byndr has been adopted by 30 colleges connecting 30,000 students and the start-up has an ambitious target of taking it to 100 institutions of higher learning by the end of this year.

Talentedge is also on a similar growth path. It offers courses jointly with world’s leading institutes and corporate having partnered with over 20 top institutes like IIT, IIM and IIFT, to better classroom learning experience for over 700,000 individuals and corporate learners.

“Talentedge plans to change the way India learns. It is first Ed-tech firm to bring live interactive form of learning via digital medium. Courses offered are only from the most coveted institutes of the country and it plans to go international in associations as well,” said Talentgate CEO and MD Aditya Malik.

Data mining, text analysis and social media interfaces are some of the basic ingredients of modern education system. They have opened a whole new opportunity to refine training and enhance research.

The philosophy behind Embibe is simple. It strives to maximise student potential with the power of data. Embibe has been built for a single purpose: Maximising student potential with the power of data.

“Most ed-tech players and traditional coaching institutes have been set-up focusing on consumption of study material,” said Aditi Avasthy, CEO and Founder, Embibe adding “practice, practice, practice is the key to success, as they say, is far from reality. When it comes to some of the toughest exams in the country like the JEE and AIPMT, what matters is careful planning and prioritising effort in the right direction.”

Embibe offers assistance to students who get access to the academic content like daily practice questions, full and part tests and learning material. There are more than three million active users on Embibe, said Avasthy.

Technology is also reshaping the tuition supplement which is also an integral part of the teaching system. Vidyanext provides tuitions solutions. They claim to combine the strengths of home tutors and advanced learning technology.

“Students learn in person with a tutor near their home, and an advanced learning system on their android tablets. The tutors hold small interactive classes, and leverage learning technology as part of the class sessions,” said Ravi Kittu, Vice-President, marketing and strategy, at Vidyanext. What all these ed tech start-ups have in common is the ambitious targets they have set for 2016. Starting on a firm foot, they are all set to expand their presence across the country.