70% parents in Tamil Nadu find online learning

70% parents in Tamil Nadu find online learning effective, says LEAD School Survey

~80% parents in the state are able to support their child’s learning at home~

A recent survey by LEAD School, which is currently running the largest online school in the country, has revealed that the pandemic has caused major worry among parents of children belonging to class K-12.  The study shows that over 85% of parents are now more anxious about their child's future prospects in society and the economy amid the COVID pandemic.

Interestingly, with the trend of online learning picking up in our country, the survey revealed that nearly 70% parents in Tamil Nadu find online learning as an effective mode of learning and believe that it should go hand-in-hand with physical schooling. Close to 80% parents think they're able to support their child's learning at home, a trend seen among both fathers and mothers.

The nationwide survey of nearly 5,000 parents from metro and non-metro cities presented some stark findings: 70% of parents feel quite worried about the impact of COVID on their child's education and nearly 40% parents have expressed concern about their child falling behind and missing out on a year of learning and education It is slightly more for parents of class 9 and 10 students; over 78% respondents are worried about their child’s health and safety. Tamil Nadu parents are the most concerned about the health and safety of their children as compared to other parts of the country.

As per LEAD School data, parents in other southern states such as Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana feel they have been able to support their child’s learning. On the other hand, parents in the states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana feel they are not well equipped to support their child's learning. 

However, not surprisingly, 77% parents in Tamil Nadu said that they are able to spend more quality time with their children – a trend observed in both metro and non-metro cities.

The nationwide survey was aimed at understanding some of the major concerns of Indian parents as respondents shared their experiences of how they are dealing with the schools being shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is impacting their decisions concerning their children.

LEAD School Cofounder & CEO, Sumeet Mehta said, “I understand the fear that parents have of sending their children to school. Our schools should provide a high quality online learning experience so that if we decide to not send our child to school, they are not disadvantaged. But we must equally respect the decision of parents who choose to send their children to school. Government must inspect regularly to ensure schools follow protocols and take up strict action against those who don’t, as it is the only way to build trust amongst parents and students both. Parents should exercise this choice and work collaboratively with schools as this trust based contract between parents and schools may end up being Covid-19’s biggest gift to Indian education.”

LEAD School recently released the Post Lockdown Handbook for Schools in India which lays down ecommendations and guidelines on how to run schools post lockdown while achieving the twin objectives of student safety as well as excellent learning.

upGrad doubles classes, courses and capacity

upGrad doubles classes, courses and capacity to deal with the surge in demand for online learning

The edtech major recorded 72% growth in learners onboarded in April – aims to double its revenue by June 2020

Edtech major upGrad, India’s largest higher education provider just moved their start dates for all their 40 courses to start every month instead of quarterly, to take on the surge in demand from working professionals. This has more than doubled their course capacity, and each class now has a peak of 1000 learners at a given time.

“The larger the class in online, the more active the peer-to-peer learning and so it’s the inverse of offline learning,” says Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder and Executive Chairman, upGrad. 

"Last month we reached 5, 00,000 learners for our online programs, which is no mean feat in itself. Now take into consideration that our average ARPU is INR 2.5 lakhs. Yet, we are only at the very start of addressing a market of over 100 million working professionals and graduates." continues Screwvala.

This quarter, upGrad’s revenues will cross an annual run rate of INR 500 Cr with the launch of their Live Learning platform free of cost to multiple colleges and universities, to replicate their classrooms online and address their students during the Covid-19 period seamlessly. The company also separately recorded 10,000 enrollments for their 350 hours of free courses initiated during this period.