Figure one might not know this, but India has the largest number of schools in the world – 1.5 million. That’s not it, at 1.2 million schools, India registers the largest government schools’ network. However, the numbers are not the only thing that places India on the global indices. Unfortunately, the school education system is flawed with serious paucity in learning outcomes for students in government and just as many private schools. For a nation that accounts for staggering figures in youth population, this issue needs urgent notice.

The current census indicates that India has about 350 million school age children with 260 million students enrolled in school. Majority children do not proceed beyond primary or upper primary (middle) school. Approximately 200 million students belong to low income families with more than average numbers attending government schools. To draw your attention, most ed-tech providers are currently focused on students hailing from the middle- and higher-income segments.

Last decade has witnessed increased numbers of debates and discussion over this matter. As the current picture paints, the crescendo is at a new peak. Technology is the key to democratic access to resources i.e. material and teachers. Learning technology and the computational power to decipher data has made it possible to imagine that ‘personalisation’ of learning is a transforming reality. In fact, ed-tech derives its efficacy from these capabilities. Now while the consumption factor is skyrocketing, the determination of learning benefits is still at question.

Most importantly, we all need to understand that everyone is not at the start line. A near about billion people on the planet are functionally illiterate. At least for the foreseeable future, such learners will first need assistance even before they can get to truly empowered self-learning. There is evidence of large scale deployment of intelligent technology for effective teaching and learning aid upon integration with school curriculum. Among many experts, few point out the importance of Cloud technology too. “The benefits of cloud computing for the Education industry can only be realized if we align our education and IT strategy. This alignment will help us improve outcomes in the quality of research and education”, says Rama Dhuwaraha, AVC & CIO, University of North Texas System.

We can say, the Digital Divide Commerce tap into verticals where opportunity beckons. However, it will be wrong to allow for Ed-tech’s reach to be limited to only a few minds. There are affordable solutions in the market for all. “A multitude of players in this segment have come up with innovative solutions but most of them address a single problem or a part of the entire process. But we provide a whole gamut of services and products that cater to the end-to-end requirements for learning and assessments,” says Sasi Kant, CEO of LearningTree.

Even the poorest can access learning using technology, this needs to be made possible by the government and citizens. Access to internet is much less of a problem than the shortage of teachers and skillsets..

Ed-tech is now at the forefront with the impending crisis. We need to act now. Just the availability of technologies is not enough. We need make sure we constitute at an individual level to aggregate the technologies and educate the rural educational authorities to adopt them. Eventually, through joint efforts and maximum reach, we can reach every child and build a new, sustainable way of imparting education, effectively.

Education is a boon to some. Technology can make it a boon for all.