Sumanth is a passionate education entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in the industry and Co-Founder of Kidvento Education and Research.

In a recent interaction with Indranil Chakraborty, Editor, Siliconindia magazine, Sumanth discusses impactful EdTech trends and their applications, highlighting ways institutions can enhance teaching for comprehensive student learning.


What are your thoughts on the current EdTech landscape in India?

Currently, India is one of the biggest education markets in the world. Although the industry was not tapped into properly until recently, the sudden rise to the spotlight of a few companies that attracted large VC investments in recent years brought about an increased awareness about the value and importance of the industry. However, I personally feel that the sentiments on education today are not that great from the perspective of the customers, investors and other stakeholders. Despite this, the EdTech sector continues to be a very strong market, wherein customers are welcoming any product that makes a real difference to them. Overall, the education market today is in an interesting phase, wherein we are seeing consolidation even before growth, but in terms of customer awareness and not the company.

The advent of AI is creating more efficiencies for the students, enabling them to grasp the concepts faster and have an enhanced learning experience

Tell us about the latest technologies that are driving the EdTech space, asking with their use cases

According to me, EdTech is mainly divided into three categories - technology in education, technology for education, and technology of education. While technology in education refers to integration of ICT, smart classrooms, LMS and other similar aspects, technology for education refers to ERP systems, GPS in school buses, policies etc and technology of education refers to the new assessment methodologies, pedagogical changes, curriculum innovations. A key tech advancement that is driving the EdTech sector today is the new & scientific ways of assessing the students across all levels of education. Secondly AI/ML is being integrated into a variety of processes in education such as assessments, learning delivery, content & curriculum development and many others.

Briefly explain the advantages that Generative AI is offering to the students

Knowledge has always been there for everybody to consume it. But, the advent of AI is creating more efficiency for the students, enabling them to grasp the concepts faster and have an enhanced learning experience. However, it is important for parents and educational institutions to ensure that the students use the Generative AI tools to just support their creativity and not entirely replace it. Going forward GEN AI becomes an efficiency enhancing tool for students in terms of generating content, solutions for problems, non-emotional advice and opinions etc.

How can educational institutions leverage technologies to make their teaching process more effective and facilitate students’ holistic learning?

For most educational institutions in tier-III towns, the major challenge is the severe scarcity of skilled teachers to effectively deliver the lessons. In such regions, tech advancements such as education via satellite, digital content, animated content, and smart classes become extremely helpful in delivering effective learning to the students. Additionally, integrating technology into the teaching process enables the educational institutions to enhance the effectiveness of their teaching methodologies. In terms of tier-I cities, since most of the population has easy access to technology, tech tools are necessary to streamline that access to be able to utilize them in an efficient manner.

"A key tech advancement that is driving the EdTech sector today is the new & scientific ways of assessing the students across all levels of education"

In your opinion, how will the EdTech landscape in India shape up in the coming years?

Today, both companies and the government are very well aware of the kind of products that the customers need. Going forward, identifying what is the right problem to solve will be a key factor that the EdTech companies will have to focus on. I strongly believe that every education organization is passion-driven and genuinely feel the need to contribute to the society at large. Thus, I expect the government to recognize the fact that anybody who is working in the education industry is ultimately contributing to the society and offer them incentives such as tax benefits to encourage more players from entering into the education sector and contribute towards the betterment of the society.