Online tutoring platforms a favourite among edupreneurs

India has 100 million students in private schools with a shortage of two million teachers. Addressing the needs of the current generation students can be a huge business opportunity. Come online tutoring, a nascent market that companies need to build an integrated and scalable model for.

For hundreds of years, India practised the Gurukul system of education where we had a tutor teaching pupils in Gurukul. Slowly we moved on to the traditional method of “chalk-and-talk” and now comes the digital method of learning. Students are increasingly adopting digital learning solutions to engage with the choicest of teachers with the help of their computers and iPads, thus, giving a push to online tutoring industry.

Students from primary classes to Class XII and higher education courses are now actively leveraging websites and apps in their search for excellent tutors. In the past few years, the approach of the parent, teacher and student fraternity in India has been veering towards the online world, especially in urban and semi-urban India. With greater internet penetration and availability of top-notch broadband services, slowly but steadily, the online tuition market in India is getting popular among students as there is a huge price difference between private tuitions at various coaching centres and online tutoring and this is a significant reason as to why more and more school, college going students are now getting enrolled for online classes providing them practical insights and individual attention in the comforts of their home at a time convenient to them.

Vedantu, one such startup connecting a student directly to a teacher makes sure learning-teaching happens in a personalised way. Vamsi Krishna, Co-founder and CEO, Vedantu, says, “Vedantu as a one-to-one online tutoring platform has only personalisation for the student as its core mission. It aims at creating a platform where the student will be at the center of learning. Where a teacher will teach according to the need, pace and level of a student. Where learning graduates from One-to-Many to 1-to-1. Where accessibility will no longer be a challenge as the student can get the best.”

Talking about the future of online tutoring, he says, “While it will take some more time for the complete switch to take place, we believe online tutoring is the way forward for students and parents looking for personal attention. Classroom coaching may work for some students, but, there will be others who need special attention or more help on particular areas – this is where a platform like Vedantu will play a key role, by mentoring them 1-1 and solving all their queries real time. We believe that choice and convenience will drive this trend of online tutoring over traditional classes but as with e-commerce its not that the whole behavior will shift online. In fact we see both the models co-existing.”

Online tutoring platforms offer various benefits to tutors. Let’s have a look at some:

Accessibility: Online tutoring offers the benefit of reaching maximum audience from the convenience of their home. Its easy reach to different corners of the world makes it a preferred choice of business.

Reduced cost of transportation: As in the case of private tuitions, one is required to visit the institute or visit student’s home to teach which involves cost of commuting. Whereas in case on online tuitions, one can teach a student privately from the convenience of his/her home thus saving money.

Reduced cost of maintaining infrastructure: To give private tuitions one needs to possess an institute or hire some space to place supplies like tables, chairs, whiteboard etc. This results in added cost of buying and maintaining infrastructure for teaching. Online tuitions involve no such costs. The only requirement is having access to a good WiFi network and a computer.

Time flexibility: Online tuitions provide flexibility in case of time as a tutor can assign students the time according to his/her suitability. In case of institute or home tuitions, the tutor allots a specific time to students during which he/she has to be present for teaching. In case of any sudden work, it gets difficult for the tutor to inform the lot of students scheduled for the batch.

Trendy: With the advent of technology and internet, staying updated using internet is very essential and ‘in’ these days. Taking online tuitions requires a tutor to be updated on the ‘know how’ of certain applications like YouTube, Skype, video recording etc.

Bang on promotion and marketing: Although online tutoring requires one to get acquainted with internet usage, it offers another benefit of promoting and marketing his/her company online at a much lesser price as compared to other tuitions where the tutor has to design brochures and pamphlets and get them printed and distributed in the neighboring society.

If structured or planned well, one can earn really well in the business of online tutoring. This sector of education has seen a boom in recent years with many new entrants starting up their venture in online tutoring industry.

As Philip F.Sparks, Chief Product Officer and Co- Founder, Brainnr, a startup in online tutoring, puts it, “During my studies at Bryant University, I desperately needed a tutor to solve my specific doubts prior to my statistics exam. I resolved to calling up my Indian tutor who taught me over Skype. The session was pathetic. He kept having to raise his piece of paper near the webcam. I then realised that there has to be an easy solution for the aforementioned problem. So we decided to build Brainnr, to expand the reach of good Indian tutors world-wide.” Talking about its expansion plans he adds, “India first - the world next. We see no reason why people anywhere in the world cannot use Brainnr. Especially considering the low cost, and high quality of Indian tutors. Utilising a cost arbitrage strategy we can easily market top Indian tutors, complete with our ecosystem of features, to countries like the United States and the UK.”

It is evident, hereby, that online tutoring is one of the most favoured sectors for many startups as it ensures best of performance with ease and good ROI. It also poses for a safer future with the world going digital.