Nep 2020- An Interplay Of Education And Technology

The National Education Policy, 2020 (“Policy”), unveiled by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (“MHRD”), is revolutionary in every sense. While the Policy focuses on multiple aspects, including the need for early childhood care, inclusive education and revamping of the current curriculum, an inherent thread that runs through the Policy is the interplay of education and technology.

Over the last decade, India has transformed itself into an ‘information intensive society’ and there is a growing requirement to embrace the usage of technology in the field of education. In this regard, the Policy notes that one of the central principles steering the education system will be the ‘extensive use of technology in teaching and learning, removing language barriers, increasing access as well as education planning and management’.
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NEP 2020 AND FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES - WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE REGULATORY DOMAIN

Background

The National Education Policy, 2020 (“NEP”), is only a few days old and has been garnering a lot of attention. Indeed, this is only natural, given the impact it can have on the large student community of India. In addition, given that it is the first education policy in 34 years, both in subject matter and approach, it has demonstrated significant shifts. In some ways, it is substantially different from last year’s draft National Education Policy, 2019 (“Draft Policy”).

One of the areas in our country’s education policy that has always garnered attention and curiosity is the role that foreign educational institutions can play in India and their direct entry into the country. Hereinbelow, we will check what the NEP says in this regard, and what could be expected in the regulatory landscape as a result.
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Introduction

The EdTech sector is seeing significant investments and expenditure by governments, schools, universities, students and professionals globally. By 2030, it is expected that global EdTech expenditure will grow to USD 10 trillion[1]. The growing popularity of online learning, further necessitated due to the nationwide lockdown, has provided a major push to the sector in India, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 52% to become a USD 2 billion industry by 2021[2]. The key growth drivers propelling EdTech in India are the ability to serve a large audience at significantly lower costs compared to traditional in-classroom learning, significant growth in internet and smartphone penetration across India, steady rise in disposable income of the Indian households, and a large consumer base with over 37% of India’s around 1.35 billion population falling in the 5-24 age bracket.Continue Reading Covid-19 – A booster for the EdTech Industry in India

COVID-19 Impact Responses by State Education Regulators

Background

To tackle the COVID-19 crisis, India has seen significant legislative and policy changes. The thrust of the new rule book has been aimed at softening the blow delivered by the crisis to various stakeholders in the society, including parents and students, and in certain cases, balancing this with the interests of the school management and staff.

Following in the footsteps of its global counterparts, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has announced three successive lockdowns till date – March 25, 2020, April 15, 2020 and May 1, 2020. The guidelines issued by the MHA pursuant to the lockdowns has prohibited operation of all educational, training, research and coaching institutes. However, the MHA and the state governments have encouraged education through online medium. Various state governments had taken similar steps even prior to the issuance of the MHA guidelines, and had also passed orders promoting all students till class VIII / IX to the next class without exams.

The interim shutdown of schools has come with its fair share of peculiar challenges, with fee collection drawing the most attention. While several states have taken measures in this regard, this post highlights the actions taken in six states – Delhi[1], Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, West Bengal and Maharashtra.
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Education Technology

The use of digital technology in the education sector is growing at a remarkable pace in India. With news reports giving Byju’s, a Bengaluru based learning app, a valuation of over USD 2 billion in its latest round of investments, the investors’ interest in the education technology (edtech) sector is on the rise.
Continue Reading M&A Trends in the EdTech Sector