Recently Educomp Solutions partnered with HCL Infosystems to promote Educomp?s proprietary Smartclass DTS boards through the HCL Learning platform. Shantanu Prakash, chairman & managing director, Educomp Solutions, in an interaction with Vikram Chaudhary of The Financial Express, shares how technology is influencing students and teachers alike. He says that while education is a sector that provides limitless opportunities, the key challenge for education companies in India currently is the tough credit environment and high interest rates. Excerpts:

How has the education industry evolved over the last decade?

The education sector in India has evolved dramatically due to the emergence of new-age technology/learning tools, critically impacting access and quality in education. If advances in internet-enabled education over the last decade are any indicator, in just a few decades students will recall with amazement the traditional format school?50 kids to a teacher, learning by rote, bulky textbooks and a high incidence of auditory instruction. Today, the learning environment has metamorphosed into what we call a ?smart-class?, where computers and content, teacher and the taught, integrate in a stimulating environment that not only challenges all knowledge delivery mechanisms of a decade ago but dramatically improves the outcomes of education.

Teachers have benefited greatly as the emphasis has shifted from a talk-down model to an engagement model where student and teacher are more equal participants in the process. An increasing number of teachers are using technology-led tools as teaching aids. Students have begun to use ICT tools to get a better understanding of curriculum and concepts. This is also helping them train to compete at the global level. Almost 53% of students are either using a smartphone or are connected to the internet. Parents are also playing a huge part as influencers in moving from traditional education modules to digital delivery methods.

Access to education is today free of geographical limitations. The entire gamut of 0-12 and thereafter higher education can now be delivered on demand, on location, via satellite or online.

How has the smart-class technology changed during the same period?

It is good to see that schools are now increasingly adopting digital solutions to enhance the learning experience. In fact, Educomp pioneered the digital learning programme for schools called Smartclass way back in 2003. I must say that, globally, there are hardly any comparable products to Smartclass. While we have a long way to go (as hardly 8-9% of schools in India have access to technology-aided learning), private schools in India have taken the lead for technology adoption in classrooms.

So, what is your growth strategy?

We have expanded our operations to become the only diversified education company in India. We have built valuable brands across key education segments from pre-schools to higher education. Our strategic priority now is to consolidate our operations and focus on three core areas: digital content (smart-class), K-12 (school business) and higher education segment.

And the challenges?

Education is a sector that provides limitless opportunities and we have no challenge by way of market demand, which is only growing as parents and students look for access to quality education. One key challenge common to many businesses currently is the tough credit environment and high interest rates. In the current liquidity environment, capital is getting more expensive. We are a fast growing company and we require capital to fund our growth.

Which business vertical would be the future growth driver for Educomp?

We expect growth from all three core areas?K-12 school business (India is short of 2 lakh schools currently), higher education segment (we are short of 1,500 universities) and digital content (smart-class). We recently engaged with the Boston Consulting group on a 5-year strategic blue print exercise and, according to their analysis, Smartclass has over 90% headroom available to grow ahead. Our strategy for Smartclass is to leverage its existing base of over 600 sales force, its distribution channel in 600 school districts and its existing base of 14,200 customers, to cross-sell and up-sell additional products like our Smartclass tabs, EduIgnite assessment tool and English Mentor (for learning English).