Middle class and online education in India

01May08

Let us start with few facts about India (by September 2007):

• 550,000,000 people are less than  25 years of age
• 60,000,000  people are internet users
• 2,520,000 people have broadband connections

Growth of internet has been slow in India with most of the internet users accessing internet through internet cafes. But with the recent economic growth and computer prices going south, this trend is changing very fast. According to market researcher IDC, computer shipments rose by 20% in 2007 to 6.5 million. Broadband internet charges are going down and this will spur the growth of broadband connections in India.

Computer was considered a life style item few years ago but slowly computer is being associated with information and knowledge. This change will be most important change to spur the growth of computer sales as every middle class house hold will like to buy computers for education purpose. India’s 50% population is below 25 years of age and potentially they all need education to become productive and valuable citizens. This makes education sector very attractive to entrepreneurs and VCs.

Once internet penetration increases among Indian households, online education will be a next phenomenon among Indians. VCs have rightly put money on the online education initiatives and education is considered to be the third hottest sector among VCs in 2008.

There are few other factors that will help online education in India.

• The change in the economic and social setup has encouraged nuclear families. Both parents are working to get better standard of living, leading to possibilities that parents do not have time to teach kids.  Initial solution was to  send  the kid to coaching / tuitions. Such centers did exist but students spend more time on traveling and less on studying. Moreover, safety / accidents  are  other factors that parents do not want to send children to these education institutes.

• An other factor could be hesitation. This particular word is relevant to each age group, as they fear insult. People around us know less but are keen on making fun of some body more. Online portals are very efficient in this regard as they are on one-to-one basis. Henceforth, students can ask queries without feeling shy.
• Online portals will also solve the time management problems of working / busier individual as he can schedule his classes when he has time.

• Traditional schools/coaching provide very few opportunities where teachers can work on the needs of each student while online education portals can analyze individual student with the help of games, tests (analytical and subjective) and thought expressions. This analysis will lead to better segmented services for each student. This will also lead to better development of each child and we will have a better India. (This is analogous to brick and mortar stores where stores had limited shelf space to fulfill the needs of majority of buyers. but online book stores have infinite shelf-space so they can fulfill each individual need)

Filed under: Education, India, Internet, Middle class, online education   |  3 Comments
Tags: India, internet penetration, Middle class, online education