Hero Vired, is filling this gap and playing an active role in realizing the government’s vision of a self-reliant India by training professionals for Industry 4.1, says Akshay Munjal, CEO & Founder, Hero Vired. in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).
What is the idea behind launching EdTech firm Hero Vired?
In today’s dynamic environment, emerging technologies have disrupted the nature of jobs and the competencies required to do them. With Hero Vired, we want to fill this gap and play an active role in realizing the government’s vision of a self-reliant India by training professionals for Industry 4.1. Hero Vired is envisioned to offer an end-to-end learning ecosystem to provide learners with overall professional development and make them industry-ready for emerging jobs, professions, and entrepreneurship. Hence, we forayed into the EdTech segment. With decades of experience in education, we understand the need for a skilled workforce in contributing to India’s evolving industrial landscape.
What were the major challenges faced in developing Hero Vired?
The most interesting fact about Hero Vired is that we completely established it virtually, right from market research, hiring our team, curating programs to finally launching the company in April 2021. Amidst all that, one of the most significant challenges we faced was finding the right talent while putting the core team together – in fact, that is the point we are trying to make. In India, we are currently facing a unique ‘employability paradox’ where there is a shortage of highly skilled professionals, yet graduates find it difficult to secure suitable jobs due to lack of skills.
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Tell us briefly about Hero Vired? How is it different from its contemporaries?
We have entered the edtech segment where Hero Vired acts as a viable alternative to a master’s degree. We have built a technology platform that is at par with the best in the world and not just in India. While there are many EdTechs in India already, none of them are trying to solve the problem of deep skills. These companies operate in different verticals under EdTech – K12, test prep, certificate programs, and higher education. At Hero Vired, we aim to provide a premium learning experience, with a heavy emphasis on a personalized mentor-mentee interaction environment, to drive improved career outcomes and opportunities.
How has technology changed the role of a teacher in the classroom?
Teaching in a physical classroom and a virtual one is significantly different. A faculty can walk around in the class, look at every student and connect with them, directly. Unfortunately, in the online world, teachers cannot do that. So, education has to be reimagined completely because online and offline are two different worlds. For versatile learning and the overall growth of young people, we need to blend the two. Blending digital learning with traditional methods will give students the most optimum and effective pedagogy. We are training and equipping teachers with digital tools to make learning more engaging and effective within the classroom, while also enabling them to bring their personal touch.
There is a huge digital divide in India; what is the future of EdTech firms?
With the internet penetration rate estimated to reach above 55% by the end of 2023 in India, the digitization of education remains one of the topmost priorities of our government. India’s online education market for classes 1 to 12 is projected to grow to $1.7 billion by 2022 while the post K-12 market is set to grow 3.7 times to touch $1.8 billion, according to a report. The government’s Digital India initiative under the National Education Policy (NEP) also underlines the need for strengthening the online learning infrastructure that ensures equitable access to the highest-quality education for all learners and learning flexibility through the academic banking of credits. Our mission is to ensure that the workforce can be mentored for overall professional development aimed at their future growth. There is a huge potential in the EdTech sector. The need of the hour is for the industry and the academia to collaborate and design courses aimed at making our professionals ‘future-ready.’
