EdTech Companies Playing a Pivotal Role in Education

Education in 2022 is going to be more innovative, self-regulated, and research-driven. Implementation of ed-tech policies for all the students and edtech companies, Moratorium on Education loan, and GST reduction in online courses will play vital roles in increasing student engagement. Well-planned schemes can go a long way in getting a vast population to compete globally. We can't expect innovation if the focus is only on exams.

Sumeet Jain, Co-founder, Yocket, an Edtech startup, shares his views with The Hans India on this International Education Day. Yocket, is an Edtech startup and India's largest platform for study abroad aspirants and the largest community-driven online platform for international education.

a) Implementation of ed-tech policies for all the students and edtech companies

Self-regulation is the need right now. Ed-tech is still in its nascent stage and any policies which are not able to evolve well with the industry would be disastrous. Govt regulation at this stage might not be the best thing, but the industry together should have some self-regulation which can build trust for the whole industry.

b) Moratorium on Education loan

Education loan in India has seen a lot of NPAs. This has majorly happened in the domestic sector and banks have bled. For international education, the new-age NBFCs have done very well. Most of the students who are going for higher education abroad are doing so on education loans and they have done well. With very low NPAs in this sector, the government needs to ensure that loans above 20Ls also come under priority. The Government could also provide some interest waiver (or subsidy) schemes which can provide more access to students for funds.

c) Scholarships for higher education

Many bright students are not able to pursue higher education because of a lack of funds. We certainly need more scholarships or innovative ways to finance education. We are losing out on a lot of good aspiring students giving up because of a lack of funds. There should be a good amount of scholarships (or interest-free loans) for foreign education as well. A well-planned scheme can go a long way in getting a huge population to compete on a global level. We already have Indian-origin CEOs at many of the global MNCs. We can have many more if we can make foreign education more accessible for deserving students.

d) GST reduction in online courses

We expect to reduce GST on all education courses as it will be very helpful to make education more accessible from 18% to at least 5%. This can help a long way in reducing the prices of the courses. Higher education needs to be more accessible and affordable, and the government should do whatever it can to get this adoption to increase.

f) Expectations regarding the startup sector

Startups are no longer fringe but we still have a long way to go. The government should provide some benefits to encourage startups. We are seeing many young people willing to risk their jobs and take the plunge. The ease to start, to raise funds, and to also promote on a global level. The Government should also provide some tax benefits to startups.

I) Building Innovation Ecosystem in Indian Educational Institutes

We need to encourage our students to look beyond just exams. We will need to foster more innovation. That can happen when we have more research happening. Where the students have the option to work deeply in any subject. The budgets for research has to increase manyfold if we want to see innovation come out of Indian Educational Institutes. We can't expect to see innovation if the focus is only on exams.