📖 A New Edtech Revolution!
Elon Musk has created his own school to ensure the best quality of education for his children. Some startups in India are trying to do the same for the rest of us unprivileged folks.
Imagine a school with no grades, no traditional classrooms, and lessons delivered via real projects.
This is exactly the kind of school Elon Musk has built for his kids.
It is called 'Ad Astra,' which is Latin for to the stars.
But why did Musk feel the need to develop a school of his own?
What Do You Know? 📚
How many of us actually apply what we learned in school in our daily lives nowadays?
Knowing that "mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell" does not help you file your taxes.
Now, we're not dissing the idea of learning Maths, History or even Geography.
After all, knowledge is power.
But the problem is the way this knowledge is presented.
Our current education system basically teaches children how to memorise stuff and not read, research, and understand things on their own.
Plus, it fails to teach us many important skills that we need to know to be well-rounded human beings.
Result? Only 45.9% of Indian graduates were found to be employable because the rest did not have the necessary skills to get jobs.
Not just that, India is one of the countries facing a major skill shortage.
The US also doesn't fare that well on this chart, precisely why Musk has started his school which focuses on experiential learning.
What's that?
Basically, teaching kids how to think strategically, enable learning through activities and experiences instead of classroom learning, creating curiosity within children and encouraging them to ask more questions.
But the problem is such schools are few and far between. And often, they are only accessible to the privileged and the rich.
So, the global skill shortage is set to continue. And if left unchecked, it could cost us over $8 trillion by 2030.
What's The Solution? 💡
Making experiential learning the norm.
And how can we do so?
If you've been following us, you already know the answer: through startups.
One such startup is DeepThought, which is focusing on self-actuated learning. It is trying to make every student into a mini-researcher, enabling them to think for themselves.
The company is currently focusing on IIT-JEE, STEM, and maths classes for children. It also has a class for mothers to help them understand how to best teach their children.
It now wants to collaborate with schools and make this experiential learning a part of every child's life.
Another non-profit working in this sector since 1999 is the Agastya International Foundation. It has deployed over 200 mobile vans and 250,000 teachers who go from school to school to teach children through experiments and activities.
By now, it has reached over 12 million children, many of whom are studying in underprivileged government schools and have had no real exposure to the real world.
A startup called Little Leap is also making waves in this sector. It is trying to teach children soft skills (like communication) and helping them build the confidence that they require to stand out in this world. (Full Disclosure: Our co-founder Shantanu has investments in Little Leap)
Several other companies like SP Robotics are also working on teaching children niche topics like AI and VR.
But this space hasn't caught on yet. As most people are focusing only on traditional and giant edtechs like Byju's and Unacademy.
Honestly, India needs more tech in education, than edtechs selling courses. If we shift our focus on such experiential learning startups, we could change the way education and learning look in our country.
If you want to dive deeper into DeepThought’s business model and how they are changing the face of education we are hosting an “Insider Insights” session with Tarun Ayitam today (23 April 2022) on Zoom.
In a Line: Rote learning has now become the norm in India but some startups are trying to change this by teaching students how to think and by developing their skills.
Quick Question: Can edtech startups actually make a difference?
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I never Mugged up anything in school and cleared exams By framing sentences in my own language
.But now I realised that to clear examinations with exceptional grades I need to Mug things and thus doing so.
This blog made me realize that I m doing what I hate😅.
Yes!, this has been the case for more than a decade . As students are accustomed to rote learning they are not able to articulate and frame sentences in their own words, they need those bookish words to do so. I myself had been part of this, fortunately worked on my skills through case studies and forming thing on my own . :-)