This is the first of a three-part series written by Co-Founder and CEO, UpGrad, Mayank Kumar.Â
The needle moves…
When I visited the campus of a higher education institute, somewhere in Noida region of Delhi NCR. I saw a building, inside which there were about five or six students and the guard at the gate had no idea what was going on inside.
It was a very run down place but on inquiring I found out that people were paying anywhere between INR one to two lacs per year to be able to study there, and had traveled from places like Bihar and Chhattisgarh to get their higher education.
This only told me one thing, that people were willing to spend beyond their means for a good education. But sadly, that is the one thing that still eludes them. Even if one can afford it, quality education is not guaranteed in this country. Let alone relevant education. And if you can’t afford it, you are not even in the picture.
An idea takes root…
This experience jolted me into action. Don’t get me wrong, it is not as if I had been unaware of the education crisis that persists in our country before my visit to this campus. However, we undermine the power of visual confirmation as opposed to reading, hearing about it in theory, in the news, etc.
Soon after this I started researching a lot and checking out various education models globally – some emerging, some that have been around for a while. But I was always struck by the thought that the way people were looking at solving for education was not quite the correct approach and most of them needed a lot of work.
Was it possible, that most of us were yet to understand what a learner wants, and more importantly, needs? And my final thought was; do we want to waste away India’s demographic dividend by not recognizing that online needs to become mainstream?
The challenge…
When Ronnie Screwvala and I, along with my co-founders Ravi and Phalgun, started UpGrad – just over 15 months ago – all we knew was this:
There are 150 million Indian youths that need to be in higher education, at any given time, but only about 20% are;
That more than half of them are not getting through higher education, because at an early age they need to get down to earning instead of learning;
That online is a strong disruptor for this core group who absolutely need to upgrade and learn more in order to be effective and grow in their jobs;
That this is not ‘skills’ training but training of the mind, to think sharp, lateral and learn more about the industries of the future and the new working world;
That for India’s GDP to continue to grow at 7%+ it needs to have this young, working demographic (the largest in the world) be the best and be more specialists than generalists;
And that we at UpGrad needed to do our bit to change, contribute to and build this ecosystem.
Faced with the Everest of business problems…
Some of the key challenges were clear when we started off:
- Online lacks the gravitas of offline. I’m not going to be able to ‘walk’ into a campus and classroom.Â
- Online is very anonymous. No one will know when I join, or, what’s more worrisome; when I drop out. Â
- Online can get monotonous. How will I stay engaged? How will I be able to interact with everyone in a large class and get the benefit of hearing many ask great questions and get some sharp answers?
- Online is not serious learning. It is an aggregation of content. A good content library – but not education.Â
- If it is online, it should be free. Why should I pay for online content? Especially if I can get a campus-based offline education at a similar price?
- And lastly, online is not credible. How do I get my present employer as well as my family to respect/recognize online learning as the future?
In my next post, read about what happened next. And how, despite many reservations, sprouting from the challenges I listed, we managed to get UpGrad on the road anyway. Stay tuned!
The education system in India needs to improve itself. The quality of education, especially in rural areas, is often of substandard quality. Many schools do not have enough resources to provide a proper education for their students, and many teachers are not qualified or trained to teach. Even when schools do have the resources, many students do not attend school due to the many other responsibilities that their families have. The education system is not focused on developing the whole child. The education system focuses mostly on testing and evaluating students, rather than developing the whole child. This has resulted in a system that does not help students learn, grow, and become better people, but rather just tests them.
While online education has many advantages, such as the ability to learn at a pace that is convenient for the student, the difficulties of online education are also significant. Some students have difficulty learning new technologies, and others have more experience learning in a traditional classroom setting. This has led to increased inefficiency in online education, with some platforms reporting that only a few percent of their users actually learn. As a result, it is increasingly challenging for online education platforms to replace traditional methods of teaching completely.
The education sector is another area where small-town students face difficulties in obtaining an education. Many rural schools do not have enough resources to provide their students with the best education possible. This limits the opportunities for small-town students to develop their talents and abilities. One of the most common challenges is related to transportation. In small towns, the closest schools and colleges are often miles away. This increases the price that a parent has to pay for transportation, which in turn, increases the price of sending a child to school.
What are the limitations of the Indian education system?
Why cannot online education become mainstream?
What difficulties do rural students face?
I am being part of the Upgrad beneficiary if I may say, congratulate you for this Socio-Educational Initiative that is need of the hour and will definitely revolutionize the Indian education system. Without Upgrad it was almost impossible for me to learn new skills at the same time take care of my aged parents.