Online education is now a respected way to achieve a recognised qualification. With courses available in almost every subject, students are turning to online learning as a viable alternative to campus study, says Sachin Gulati, Founder, TruMath.
How TruMath has brought down the cost of education?
A good number of students flock to so many coaching classes all over India. Per batch has 100-150 students and each student pay 3k-5k per month. Statistics say 0.1% or even less number of students are successful through this model. Why is this rate race? The rate race is there to be in this 0.1% category and the rest 99% lack because the system is not right for them. In this way they are shelling so much yet they are not getting expected results. If you go to any Delhi NCR/Mumbai teacher, they will take Rs 60-70k per annum for the entire syllabus and if you go to any coaching institute they will take Rs 1-1.5 lakh per annum.
TruMath is providing the same quality education at lesser cost, so we have actually brought down the education cost. TruMath provides the best of teachers at the 1/10th or 1/15th of the mentioned price. This is a big achievement for us. Our next target is to bring down the cost further and make education affordable to everybody and nobody should be lagging just because they are not able to pay. That gap has already been filled. In the last year, we have got tremendous response. From 100 downloads in the first month, now we have 47k downloads and around 7,500 students have paid for the regular classes to join. With the help of TruMath regular classes, test and homework, every TruMath student who has joined us in the last year has crossed at least 85% marks in the board exams which is a very strong foundation for competitive examination also. We have 317 students out of that batch who has scored over 95% marks.
Why e-learning has a promising future in India?
In India the student-teacher ratio is very poor. There is lack of good teachers in India because quality people are not taking up teaching as profession; this creates a huge gap in quality teaching. Even those are present in this system; the focus is on mugging up the students. Education should build the base for the country. E-learning is meeting this gap by providing best education from the comfort of home where a teacher does not have to rush to anyplace and face hassles like traffic or other. Hence, e-learning is the future.
What is the scope of e-learning in tier II and tier III cities?
Acceptability is gradually growing in smaller cities. Registrations for TruMath classes are majorly from tier I cities including Delhi and Mumbai. However, around 35% registration we have received from smaller cities which shows people need this system and acceptability is growing there. In the last year, students who have enrolled with us have taken our “Repeat” classes. This shows they trust us which we take as a great achievement.