42% of the parents in the country trust education apps recommended by schools and teachers
The Coronavirus crisis has triggered a conversation about the online education in India. Coming at a critical time in the educational calendar, there are various questions that are fueling the online education industry which has both the ability and the technical knowhow to scale up rapidly. While the schools and colleges have been closed, everyone has adopted to online education. The move has benefited the education online firms as parents have understood the style of study and the system during the lockdown. Flowbook an online education platform of ‘back to basics’ firm carried out a survey to understand online education, its reach and benefits to the students and the parents.
Flowbook got the survey done through India intentions by Pramanya Strategy consulting. The survey had both a qualitative and quantitative approach with a representative sample of 10,000 spread across India. It was conducted via a telephonic conversation with parents and the results obtained are at a 95 percent confidence interval with a margin of error + or _- 2 %
Flowbook regarding expectation of parents with online education in India found that Close to 42% of the parents in the country trust education apps recommended by schools and teachers. Also, almost 38% of the parents look for value for money while 28% placed an emphasis on course content.
Interestingly, 54% of the parents are aware and are very clear on what to expect from an online or ed-tech company. Another 18% of the parents look for accessibility and convenience. And a whopping 44% make their decision based on the Customer experience provided and the home environment so that their children can easily adopt to the app.
While the survey throws light on the quantitative aspects of a broader trend in parental behaviour, qualitatively, there is a greater discontent in the way online is being used as a medium to teach during the lockdown. Parents are increasingly becoming aware of what is right for their children in the long run.
On the basis of geography, online education is a hit in South India where 73% are aware and know their expectations from online education, west India 68%, east 46% and North India only 35%.
Flowbook feels that there is a great scope for online education and the lockdown has especially made the parents and students understand its value. It has also made students more receptive and adopt faster to the online means of education.
“No child should be left behind says Arjun Reddy, The CEO of Flowbook. The online model helps to achieve the same. The survey has helped us to understand that India is adopting to the online model of studies and the lockdown has somehow benefited to experience the same. The knowledge about the online study model and ed-tech companies is increasing and will benefit the firms. According to him, almost all the current models of education are heavily inclined on Learning. There is no dearth of learning modules or access to information if a kid really wants to learn. This is what Flowbook is doing by connecting a committed and trained adult with the right intent and motivation to shape a child patiently and empathetically one step at a time using academics as a means.”
About the company: Back to basics learning (India) Private Ltd is one of the upcoming start-up an educational-tech company promoted by Arjun Reddy, Karthik Guduru and Shailendra Gupta in May 2016. The company was incorporated with a mission to provide afforable education to a large section of population who do not have acess to mobiles and tabs. The company’s flagship product is Flowbook and its flagship program is Flowbook’s student companion program.
Arjun Reddy, Founder & CEO, who moved from a field engineer in a mega drinking water supply project to co-founding Trio systems once he learnt the tricks of the trade. Once he exited Trio, he did a research project with Government of India; thesis on understanding what success meant to different people. His passion for teaching brought him close to the problems faced by students and what started as a constant search for practical learning solutions to address the learning concerns of one student over time and multiple iterations took shape as a company and its flagship product. Thus born Back to Basics and its core philosophy, “We can manage what we can measure.”
Karthik Guduru, COO & Co-Founder is a graduate from BITS Pilani, holds a Bachelor’s in Electronics and Master’s in Mathematics. Prior to Back to Basics pvt Ltd, he was working with Cisco, as an ASIC engineer working on design and verification of next-gen routers.
Shailendra Gupta – CTO, CO-founder is an electronics graduate from BITS Pilani. Earlier he co-founded an e-governance startup named e-swaraj where he was involved in creating a platform to address civic issues. Later, he also worked with an e-commerce organisation to develop an automated mobile testing software for the refurbished goods market. He is currently involved in revolutionising the education sector with Back to Basics.
Few pointers of survey
- Usage or knowledge about online studies
- Urban India 71% while Rural India 34% only.
- South India
- Yes : 73 %
- No 27%
- West ( MH,Gujarat,Rajasthan )
- Yes : 68 %
- No : 32 %
- East ( Bengal , Assam , Orissa )
- Yes : 46%
- No : 54%
- North India ( UP,Bihar ,MP)
- Yes : 35 %
- No : 65 %
- Urban India (35 metros ) – 71 pc
- Semi urban -Rural India – 34 pc
- 58 % people came to Know about the ed tech player through advertisements while 20% people heard about them through their peers.
- What is the percentage of annual income that parents would spend on their kids education ( mostly best options )
- >50% of their annual income – 9%
- 25-50% “ – 11%
- 10-25% – 64%
- <10%-16%
- What are the reasons for parents to reject or not be able to adopt to online education/Ed Tech player ?
- Value for money – 38%
- Accessibility and convenience- 18 %
- Poor customer experience – 32%
- Home environment( dependence on internet and providing laptop /tablet ) – 12%
