View: The role of edtech in building India as a global talent hub

When one looks at the demographics of a country like India, it is clear that India has several advantages. India is already a software services superpower and is also home to the second-largest software developer population.

A report by the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), predicts that India is expected to overtake the US as the world’s largest developer population centre by 2024.

But there is a larger, much bigger opportunity for India. Today, the demand for skills such as AI, data analytics and cybersecurity is much more than what the market can supply.

Going forward, Nasscom estimates that the demand for advanced technology skills will be 20 times greater than the supply by 2025. This gives India a huge opportunity to capture a bigger share of the global education market, and position India as a global talent hub. Edtech firms have a huge role to play in helping India capture a huge share of the market.

Let’s first see the global size of the market at play. HolonIQ, a specialized research firm focused on the global education market, estimates that the total global EdTech expenditure will reach $404B by 2025 representing a 16.3 percent CAGR, or 2.5x growth, between 2019-2025.

The post-COVID world is expected to fundamentally change the way education to date has been perceived. The transition to digital is already happening, and Indian edtech players, who have innovative business models, great content and technology, are rightly poised to dominate the global education market.

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the way education is delivered and consumed. This makes it imperative for educational institutions to rapidly take steps to bridge the gap between physical and online education and make the transition as seamless and smooth as possible.

Role in knowledge economy

Globally and in India too, the education sector needs a huge transformation. There are only a few universities and institutions that are providing quality education.

The other big challenge for educational institutions is the speed of change caused by digital technologies. The education sector needs to quickly adapt to it. Due to the huge disruption caused by digital technologies, the nature of jobs will change significantly. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an over-reliance on AI, due to its impact on automation.

Demand, hence, is increasing rapidly for emerging technologies. There are new jobs that are coming up in technologies such as Big Data, AI, ML and IoT.

The sheer pace of change makes it extremely challenging for educational institutions to catch up with the latest trends in emerging technologies. This not only impacts the quality of education but also affects the economy.

For example, a recent India Skills Report (ISR) revealed that in 2021, only 45.9 percent of graduates were found employable, a decline from 46.21 percent in 2020 and 47.38 percent in 2019.  Edtech players can fulfil this gap, through their focus on the latest technologies.

Educational institutions and edtech companies have different strengths and a different DNA. The combination of these strengths can lead to a huge transformation in the Indian education sector, which can then translate into better learning and outcomes for students, corporates, and working professionals.

Edtech companies are better in terms of Marketing & Tech solutions (LMS) solutions, and the educational institutes have great learning content but limited reach.

In today’s day and age, the best institutes require edtech players to give them scale and reach, which they have not been able to achieve earlier. This has been adopted by some of the Ivy League universities of the world earlier but the goal of the tie-up is to provide best in class knowledge, which is affordable and reachable using a direct to device model.

If India has to sustain its competitive advantage in the knowledge economy, it is imperative that the right education is provided to our children initially during their days of school days to higher education.

Edtech players have the potential to democratize education by leveraging the immense reach of the Internet. Most educational institutions do not have adequate knowledge of how they can leverage emerging technologies such as AI to improve the quality of education.

With their knowledge of leveraging emerging technologies, Edtech players can be a powerful catalyst in boosting the digital capabilities of legacy educational institutions.

For example, an edtech player can help educational institutions in delivering personalized learning and training – an aspect that is missing completely today in the traditional system.

This is essential as learning techniques and the outcome can be adjusted to an individual’s learning capability. Analytics can also be used to understand and assess the most effective way to teach and educate.

Indian students spend crores of rupees on foreign education. If this infrastructure can be created at home, then a huge amount of money can be saved, and the country can benefit.

Over a period of time, edtech players can fundamentally change the way education is delivered and consumed. This can yield spectacular long term results – both for the individual and the country at large.

Today, thanks to the Internet, India has the opportunity to not only transform the education sector, but also, equally has an opportunity to play a huge role in educating the world.

By leveraging edtech players, India can gradually build a rich repository and database of skills, and position India as a talent hub.

A big talent pool in emerging skills will act as a powerful magnet in attracting more global technology players to India, and it will reinforce India’s position in the software services space.

In ancient times, India was known as a leader in higher education with educational universities in Nalanda and Takshila, attracting global students. Today, India, has a golden opportunity with the help of edtech players, in making India, not only a global talent hub but also a global education hub.