What are young professionals and students doing cooped up in their homes during this virus outbreak? Playing video games, binge watching shows on Netflix?
Turns out they are diligently upskilling themselves on ed-tech platforms. Hari Krishnan Nair, co-founder of Great Learning, says they have witnessed a 100% increase in users across major cities.
Mayank Kumar, co-founder of upGrad, which has seen a 50% increase in enquiries a day, says the anxiety of losing jobs could be a major reason for this. "Also, one must not forget that March is synonymous with 'bonus' for most. The economic downturn can affect the immediate salary hike or even result in no hike. There is a massive psychological pressure. Acquiring a new skill set can be a stepping stone to a career transition," he says.
An interruption in the delivery of education can cause long term disruption. The pandemic requires universities to rapidly offer online learning to their students. Fortunately, technology and content are available to help universities transition to online quickly and with high quality
Raghav Gupta, MD, India, Coursera
Prateek Shukla, co-founder of Masai School, believes that given the role technology is playing during the ongoing global crisis (remote working etc), learners are recognising the growing opportunities in the tech sector. “With organisations also investing in integrating new technologies, this poses a threat to those employees who are not up to date,” he says.
Panic among students during this hectic exam season is seen to be another reason why ed-tech platforms are all the rage right now. Bright Tutee, an online edtech platform that serves over 100,000 students and offers video lectures for 18 state boards, says they have seen a 124% increase in student engagement on their platform amid the coronavirus pandemic.
One possible reason for this increase in online learning is that professionals are utilising the time they have saved by working from home to upskill themselves. This is especially true in the case of IT professionals, as multiple companies have declared work from home as an option
Kashyap Dalal, co-founder, Simplilearn
"With teachers being inaccessible due to the school shutdown, students are panicking, given the upcoming tests. So we have offered over 1,500 hours of video lectures and exam preparation kits for 18 state boards completely free to all our users," says Anant Goyal, director and founder, Bright Tutee.
Lido Learning, an ed-tech startup for CBSE students, has also seen a 25% increase in users. Shobhit Bhatnagar, co-founder of Gradeup, an exam prep site, says the spike in usage is across all segments, but especially true for JEE and NEET aspirants, with their exams being postponed.
