As per IBEF, India has approximately 500 million people in the age bracket of 5-24 which is really a big opportunity for the education sector. The opportunity is acknowledged by various Investors and has seen FDI worth US $3.24 billion in the first half of 2020. The number of colleges in India is around 40k with a number of universities around 1k. As per Indian culture, Education is always seen important and critical part of upbringing. Indian Government is not staying behind with its initiatives and policies. The government is doing all efforts to boost the digital education of e-learning and m-learning.
Some of the Government Initiatives are:
- M eVIDYA
- Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)
- Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP)
- Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE)
- Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (EBSB) campaign
In the Private Sector, we have seen investment, some of the key players are –
- Harappa Education – Public Speaking Courses
- Unacademy – Largest Learning Platform
- Univariety – Career guidance and alumni system
- Class Central – Search Engine for Free Online Classes
- Classplus – dedicated for coaching institute
- Toppr – Better learning for better result – K12 Focused
- Byjus – Class 4-12 Online Tuition
- Vedantu – Interactive Online tutoring platform
- Khan Academy – Free Online Courses
When we spoke with various Education Institutes recently, we found –
- Most of the Institutes, Colleges have adopted Online Classes
- They are using Google Meet, Zoom or Microsoft Teams for online classes
- Initial adoption and learning was challenging but now the tools and its usage is comfortable with all Teachers as well as students
- 60% of students are at remote places where they are facing the challenge of the Internet network, bandwidth
- Many teachers and students still don’t have a dedicated and isolated space for Online Classes and face noise disturbance
- Many colleges and institutes are still worried about information security challenges
- There is high pressure on syllabus completion
- Lack of time, technical challenges cause less focus and time on Interaction
Many Institutes want to extend online classes to a blended model where students can do offline activities, assignments, and learning. The online classes can be focused on Interactions, Q&A sessions.
Making the education available at less cost will ensure education for all. Somewhat the private players with OTT platform and solutions are providing resources and tools for blended, offline, and as per need education.
OTT platform helps Education Institutes to provide Video Content on Demand. What an Institute should look for while building OTT Solution for its college or Institute:
- Scalable and Secure Infrastructure
- Cloud-hosted and CDN
- Easy to use and manage
- Simple and User friendly
- Cost-effective technology
- Mobile App – Android (which is the most used phones in India)
- User Identity & Access Management
College and Institutes can work on various models with students to make it available on-demand:
- Free
- Hybrid – some free and some paid
- Transactional – paid and time-bound
- DTR – Download to rent (time-bound)
Being this private OTT platform there are many advantages as compared to free but advertisement-supported platforms like YouTube
- Privacy of content
- Restricted access
- No distraction due to advertisement
- User to have all control to view and create his/her own watch list
Spagyrist Mentors is a research-based management consulting company. We focus on ideating and building technology solutions that can be affordable, scalable.
Our cost structure of the current OTT Solution for Education is $100 per year with $1 per month/per student. If you want to explore and check talk to our team on contact@smmentors.com