New Delhi, April 17, 2021,According to the findings of a study conducted by Risers Accelerator, a conglomerate of India’s leading entrepreneurs dedicated to supporting the startup industry, the Edu-tech sector is going through the biggest growth period ever since its inception in India. It is being estimated that the Ed-tech market, which currently stands at $2.8 billion is expected to grow 3.7 times in the next five years to reach $10.4 billion by 2025. It is also being estimated that among the Ed-tech sub-sectors, K-12 education startups with $4.3 billion in total market size will have the single highest market share — 41% of the total Edutech market in India.
The sudden growth in the Edu-tech sector has shown how technology can revolutionize the education system in the country. While the digitization of education was taking place even before the pandemic struck, the change was taking place slowly. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, seems to have catalyzed technological adoption in schools, colleges, and other academic and non-academic educational institutions.
Says Rachit Chawla, Director,Finance and Technology, Risers Accelerator: “We always keep an eye out for the emerging sectors, and the growth that we’re witnessing in the Edu-tech sector is truly remarkable. While it is true that the current scenario is conducive for the Edu-tech companies – given that the schools and colleges are closed – we mustn’t overlook the hard work the startups have done in this segment to innovate situation-specific solutions. They have not only helped the education system survive the onslaught of the pandemic but have made it better and more resilient against future troubles. It goes show that the future of education is digital and the Edu-tech is only going to grow in the coming times,” said.
Besides the lockdown that has forced the schools to shut down, another thing that is helping the Edu-tech sector is the growth in internet penetration. The internet penetration in the country – even in remote areas – has gotten better. According to a report published by TRAI, in 2019 alone, the number of internet users grew from 665 million in June to 687 million in September, registering a quarterly growth rate of 3.35%.
“The e-learning industry has witnessed tremendous growth during the lockdown and I am certain that it is only going to grow in the post-pandemic phase. Without the power of e-learning, the entire education system would have come to a screeching halt once the lockdown was imposed. We have been in touch with several academic and non-academic institutions and they have decided to continue with Blended Learning (a learning model that combines online and offline learning to get the best results) in the post-pandemic phase,” adds Chawla.