Reasons like engaging content and high-quality educational resources are leading edtech demand in the country, but that’s not all that’s fuelling it. The advent of artificial intelligence has hijacked most conversations, and education has not been immune from its effects.
This has prompted several startups to throw their hat into the ring and strike while the iron is hot.
One such startup is SuperKalam, an AI-powered test preparation platform for civil services aspirants.
“We are not dependent on humans for doubt resolution, multiple choice questions’ evaluation or content creation. By removing humans as a variable, we are making the entire learning experience infinitely scalable,” says Vimal Rathore, co-founder of SuperKalam.
The startup has one educator per 1.7 lakh aspirants, offering personalised guidance. Nearly 5 million aspirants appear for civil services entrance tests in India, and SuperKalam says it is seeing an uptick in registrations despite monetising its services in June 2024.
Cashing in on an Underfunding Crisis
Edtechs in India are also flourishing amidst insufficient government funding for the education sector. According to PRS Legislative Research data, Union Budgetary allocation for education has consistently declined, with a marginal improvement in 2023-24.
While government spending on education is largely stagnant, the quality of teachers has also become a cause for concern. Per the Ministry of Education’s data for 2023-24, 48% of teachers at the pre-primary level are unqualified, while 12% of teachers from primary to secondary levels lack professional training. Most edtechs are aimed at upskilling, but the current scenario signifies a deep demand for an overhaul of the educational infrastructure.
Although Union Budgets in the past laid emphasis on creating more infrastructure for premier educational institutes, primary education — foundational for students — attracts little attention. Further, the pandemic worsened K12 education for students, both in India and abroad.
One such startup making significant strides in math education is Bhanzu, which started as a Telangana government initiative during the pandemic. The platform focuses on boosting mathematical skills for children between 5 and 12 years old.
Neelkanth Bhanu, co-founder of Bhanzu, says, “We teach foundational math via our proprietary pedagogy, which increases a child’s arithmetic speed 4x, making them do exceptionally well in school and apply math in the world around them.”
Since its inception, Bhanu says that the platform has grown to 55,000 active students, nearly 40% of whom are from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East. Online learning is as effective as offline classes. We get to have children from different parts of the world interact. I think cosmopolitan exposure is usually lost in offline setups,” says Bhanu.
Demand For Personalised Learning Experiences
The boom of edtech startups in the country is a clear indicator of the state of the education sector in India, with the companies racing to fill the gap created by a dearth of qualified teachers.
Having worked with startups in the education sector earlier, SuperKalam’s Rathore understood the gap competitive exam candidates faced. This informed the company’s focus on customised guidance for test modules and meeting monthly targets.
Over the years, SuperKalam has developed a “nudge-based system” dedicated to each user. What’s more impressive is that the company developed this AI-based system with just a handful of people. The platform has two human educators, Rathore and Arpita Sharma.
“I guide students here at SuperKalam in framing their daily targets and being consistent and disciplined. They will usually encounter different kinds of distractions, so I guide them on maintaining a sense of discipline for at least 4-5 hours a day. I also provide empathetic, mental and emotional support,” says Sharma.
Investors like Y Combinator have placed their bets on SuperKalam, with seed investor Sparrow Capital brimming with optimism over the platform’s growth.
“Profitability would have been a question if Superkalam was into an existing offline business model. They are trying to build a tech platform which has inherent cost advantages … our burn has been miniscule compared with our growth in metrics,” says Yash Jain, co-founder of Sparrow Capital.
Making Education Accessible
In 2023-24, the secondary school dropout rate in India stood at a staggering 10.2%, according to official data. This affects 26% of students in the current education system.
This year’s Union Budget increased the education expenditure estimate by 12.5% (to ₹1.28 lakh crore) from last year’s revised estimate. However, zooming out, PRS data shows that education’s share of expenditure has seen a significant drop from the 19% allocated in 2015-16. Education is a concurrent subject that requires state and central governments to work together.
Programmes like the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, providing funding for education from pre-school to Class 12, heavily depend on state funding. However, in a recent reply in Parliament, the Ministry of Education stated that Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal did not see disbursal of any central funds.
The pandemic may have widened educational inequity, but SuperKalam’s AI-powered services and Bhanzu’s offerings are just a hint of Indian innovations that showcase technology’s potential to make education more accessible and effective.
Also read: 25,000 lost jobs: West Bengal teachers protest in Kolkata after Supreme Court verdict
