Bloom or just Survive!

      Lately I have been fascinated to know why the EdTech industry is crashing. Isn't that the topic running around in media now a days? This blog is not to assess that question, thou. We all know that EdTech as an industry is maturing itself. It saw its nascent stage, the growth and its consolidation. Time will tell us where does it lead us to. The current job losses in EdTech, the mergers and the hiccups in general will all settle down with time. Those who survive would definitely be the ones that stick to their value addition. It is not the marketing stunt, the cost factors, the current trends that will make a company survive, but the real value add to the customer (learners in this case). As the market consolidates, only few survive. I just hope the market correction leads to a better EdTech companies blooming rather than just surviving. Needless to say, the market correction takes care of it automatically.

      Outside the EdTech industry, I believe the real education is happening in schools that want to add value. I just watched a TedX talk from Seema Bansal called "Why India needs to shut down 5 lakh Govt schools?". It is quite disheartening to hear the statistics that in spite of  15 lakh schools in India we are producing learners who are at the bottom five globally while China with 250K schools have produced learners who are at the top five globally. This is alarming when we Indians are known for our education system historically. Doesn't this call for a drastic shift in the system as a whole? We don't need age old policies to drive it. We need implementers of these policies.  Seema did give a solution  of merging Govt. Schools for better efficiency, the model now replicated by Rajasthan Government and Jharkhand Governments in their states. The sad state of affairs is 2 government teachers (on an average) guiding all classes from grade 1-10 is definitely not feasible. That leads to the question that would digital literacy help. How about an efficient teacher teaching these Govt. schools online. Does our infrastructure support these in Govt. Schools? Is the Government dedicated enough to drive this change?

       As a futurist, my thoughts always are with the kids as they build our nation. I believe in the principle "Learning is mandatory, Education is optional". If the agenda is to bring in the learning revolution, the mediums are plenty. Why restrict it to formal education?  Our nation if it is to prosper, we need to put the right steps forward. 

            Let our kids bloom rather than just survive. Are we on the right track?