Meena Ganesh
CEO & MD, Edurite Technologies
“We are offering schools a complete package of management support, ranging from curriculum and teaching methodology, teacher training and management, and day to day school operations”
Having taken over as the MD of Edurite Technologies, what plans do you have for Edurite in this segment?
The K 12 space in education is an area of significant opportunities. We continue to focus on providing IT based content to schools to supplement the teaching process in the classrooms. Additionally, we are offering student led e-learning content through the retail market place.
Through the Edurite Tutorials brick and mortar centers, we are providing supplemental training to students to help them with their exams as well as preparing them for Engineering and Medical entrance exams.
We have recently launched the end-to end school management which we are offering schools a complete package of management support, ranging from curriculum and teaching methodology, teacher training and management, and day to day school operations.
What, according to you, ails the K-12 education in India? In what ways can technology engender a change in this system?
There are about 220 million students who are part of the K-12 education in India. About a 90 million of these study in 75,000 private schools, while the balance go to about a million Government schools. There is a great deal of inconsistency in the quality of education that gets delivered across these schools. Availability of qualified and good quality teachers is an ongoing challenge. Technology can help to level the playing field to some extent. The content that companies like ours provide, are linked to the various central and state syllabus and act as a very strong tool to the teachers in ensuring that the students’ are able to understand concepts more effectively.
In places where access to teachers is difficult, these tools can help ensure a consistent level of inputs to the students.
We have worked extensively in Government schools in upcountry Karnataka and have seen that our solutions have helped improve the scores for the students in their SSLC exams from 50% to 63% over a two-year time frame.
How has partnership with TutorVista.com helped leverage educational content and technology? Please tell us about any new inititatives following the acquisition.
TutorVista.com is in the business of providing one-on-one supplemental education to children in the Global marketplace, with Indian teachers. TutorVista.com acquired Edurite Technologies last November with a view of using the Edurite model in the entire domestic market place. The Edurite Tutorial model is actually a great way of combining technology and instructor led training, along with 24/7 online support using the TutorVista.com model. TutorVista.com has also found the content that Edurite has created over the last many years a great tool for their teachers to use as part of the Online tutoring services.
What sets Edurite Tutorials apart from other players in the field?
Edurite Tutorials brings together the work that we have done over the last 8 years in the area of academic content for the K-12 space. The tutorials offer the students the best in content in a structured environment, meant to improve their performance in the key exams.
How successful has Edurite’s entry into retail business been? What brought about this shift?
India has 7 million Home PC’s today. Edurite has a suite of more than 200 products for children of different syllabi and grades. They are available at more than 400 retail outlets across India like Crossword, LandMark, Reliance, Sapna etc. Edurite’s entry into the retail business has been very successful. We reach around 200,000 customers through this vertical every year. Edurite is the largest player in the organised retail educational CDROM vertical in India.
