Virtual learning clicks with pupils

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New Delhi, Apr 14: Virtual learning has become an affordable reality, with portals structuring tuition and classroom services at varying price points. Extramarks.com, an online education portal that offers lessons for classes VI to XII—and is launching virtual tuitions this week—claims to have added around 3 lakh subscribers since its launch in October 2007. It boasts of over 1,000 new subscribers a day.

Atul Kulshreshtha, chairman, Extramarks.com, said, “We will provide after-school support to students. Teachers would be available from 3 to 12 pm, ensuring one-to-one guidance.”

MBD Alchemie, an education online portal with MBD-IBM partnership, offers various models—answering queries through e-mail and phone calls, periodically creating a pan-Indian virtual classroom by connecting 60 students to a teacher and the like. Monika Malhotra Kandhari, senior director, MBD Alchemie, said, “There is tremendous enthusiasm among students about online education. Till July 2007, we had around 10,500 students enrolled for the paid segment. The numbers have risen significantly since. With students availing of free services, the number runs in lakhs”.

The cost of such courses range from Rs 200 a month to Rs 800 an hour. MBD Alchemie courses cost from Rs 700 to Rs 3,000 a year per subject, Extramarks’ Rs 250 to 500 a month per subject. These prices are highly competitive to the prevailing tuition prices in metros. Other players like Tutorvista.com charges around Rs 800 for an hour but some packages come for Rs 2,000 a month. Kulshreshtha has students from Andaman & Nicobar Islands (301), Daman and Diu (73), Northeastern states (2,015) where Internet penetration is low.

Both MBD Alchemie and Extramarks have around 40 teachers on their rolls. “We offer salaries comparable to the best schools. Currently, we have hired teachers in Delhi but in four months we plan to hire in Chennai and Hyderabad,” said Kulshreshtha.

“Our initial investment was around Rs 20 crore. We will invest Rs 100 crore in three years and diversify our services,” said Kandhari.

Says Kulshreshtha, “We have invested Rs 5 crore already and plan to invest Rs 10 crore this year.”