Future of learning: Edtech start-ups' hybrid tilt to lure students

The pandemic-induced success for edtech start-ups in India is slowly waning. As more and more students make their way back to traditional forms of offline learning, edtech firms have seen a fall in the number of students using their platforms.

- ARYAMAN GUPTA

Adding to the problem are the recent financial updates from Byju, which reported losses greater than what the company earns. This has raised questions on the high valuation that some edtech companies have received.

Byju's FY21 loss was at 24,588 crore and revenue for the financial year came in at ₹2,428 crore.

With the offline lure of greater teacherstudent connect, many such start-ups have started brick-and-mortar centres to compete with existing offline institutions.

Platforms like PhysicsWallah, Byju's and Unacademy are also bringing students new offerings.

PhysicsWallah, which recently entered the unicorn list, is trying to offer more personalised offerings to students.

"We launched our Doubt Engine 1.0 last year to help students resolve their queries. Upon requests for personalisation in this regard, we launched Doubt Engine 2.0 this year, a real-time doubt resolution system. While students are engaged in online classes, a set of teaching assistants in the background will resolve questions students might encounter during the class," said Abhishek Mishra, chief strategy officer (CSO) of PhysicsWallah (PW).

PW has also unveiled its Khazana and Saarthi programmes.

While the former offers students a set of all previous lectures, the latter offers 24x7 doubt-solving support from three personal mentors.

"We have doubled down on giving more hand-holding support and guidance programmes to students. This is where we introduced the Saarthi programme, using which doubts can be resolved real-time," said Mishra.