New Delhi. Due to the pandemic, there was no study in schools and colleges for the whole year. Most of the students were taught through online education. But in small cities i.e. tier-2 and three, there were many problems ranging from devices. In view of this, the online learning platform Convenient made a new innovation.
Unlike other edtechs, ConveGenius decided to transform its existing solution into a parent-based offering, moving tablet-based learning to WhatsApp. This allowed students to learn from home via chat-based teaching via phones even during the virus outbreak. Through this, ConveGenius taught over 1.5 crore students in just 11 months.
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Boosted the outreach of edtech platforms
Vipraav Chaudhary, VP-Operations at Convenient, explains that during COVID-19, the availability of digital devices was a major barrier to education for students in rural and remote areas in India. He said, the social enterprise is taking the initiative in the backdrop of the technological shift caused by the pandemic.
The move from tablet-based adaptive learning to chatbot-assisted teaching and learning has boosted the outreach of edtech platforms.
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Target to reach five crore students
Since its inception in 2014, the startup has raised Rs 20 crore in funding from individuals and institutional investors such as Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF), Benori Ventures, Enablers, and Ashish Gupta, Founder and Trustee, Ashoka University, among others. Its annual revenue in FY19-20 was Rs 18.4 crore. Despite the changes brought about by the pandemic in the education sector, ConveGenius is looking to reach 4-5 crore students from middle- and low-income families in 2021, which is part of the company’s ‘EdTech for New India (ETNB)’ mission.
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This is how technology change helped students
The ConveGenius team adopted a chatbot-based model of learning by integrating the WhatsApp API into their solution and using the messenger function to deliver bite-size chunks of information and content to students studying from home. The model was inspired by the device (tablet/PC) disparity exposed by the virus outbreak, as well as the surprising ubiquity of WhatsApp across Indian households of all socio-economic backgrounds. The app’s super-friendly interface further made it the ideal solution for students to study while quarantined and for parents to monitor and participate in their children’s learning progress. Since the launch of the chat-based teaching and learning platform in May 2020, ConveGenius has now reached 15 million students across 10 languages, with learning sessions via the WhatsApp platform reaching a weekly completion rate of 98%.
FIRST PUBLISHED : April 6, 2021, 18:56 IST