Edtech Consortium firms spend Rs 3,500 crore to boost learning ecosystem

Indian edtech companies spent Rs 3,500 crore on the learning ecosystem comprising teachers, content, pedagogy, and faculty, according to a survey conducted by India Edtech Consortium (IEC), a self-regulatory body for the industry.

This comes at a time when edtech startups are treading water as offline classes open up and growth stagnates for new-age technology companies providing online education. The sector, which grew manifolds with investors pouring in funds during the pandemic, now sees a funding dry-out.

In a statement shared on October 10, the regulatory body formed under the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said it conducted the survey to assess the quality of education driven by the edtech companies in India. The members of the independent regulatory body include Indian edtech startups like upGrad, Byju's, Careers360, Classplus, Doubtnut, and Great Learning.

According to the survey results, about 86 percent of teachers believe that the emergence of Edtech companies has expanded job opportunities for them, while 82 percent believe that technology has enhanced their teaching capabilities.

IEC, in the statement, said that the National Teachers Survey covered more than 700 teachers working with IEC member companies across metros and non-metros.

The survey also highlighted after the pandemic about 62 percent of teachers feel they have a better work-life balance. Further, while 74 percent of the respondents said they have more flexible work hours working with edtech startups, about 10 percent also said work-life harmony has been disturbed by startups, who are chasing speedy growth.

“Teaching as a profession has taken a backseat which, of course, is an alarming situation. Therefore, IEC reached out to such practitioners to assess how well-placed are they in their profession… These insights from the industry are likely to also accelerate the adoption of teaching as a sought-after career option,” said IEC chair Mayank Kumar. He is also managing director and co-founder of edtech unicorn upGrad.

On January 12, the IAMAI said it was setting up IEC which also has Harappa, Times Edutech & Events Limited, Scaler, Simplilearn, Toppr, Unacademy, UNext Learning, Vedantu, and WhiteHat Jr, among others as its members.