COVID-19 Has Changed The Dynamics Of Learning With Greater Emphasis On Online Education: Kaushik Sharaf, Cymatic EduTech

Tell us in brief about Cymatic? 

Cymatic started its operations in the Year 2017, with the key focus to democratize education, by bridging the gaps in the ecosystem, making learning accessible to everyone, everywhere. We have created our own unique adaptive learning platform which brings the best subject experts across India as personal tutors to students at a pan India level. At the same time, we have our two-way interactive platform where teachers and students can interact in real-time. Currently, we are focused on building low bandwidth technology which can help create accessibility across India, without an added burden of data packs on users. 

In a very short span of time, we have been ranked among the 20 most promising EdTech startup-2019 in India, and have also won several awards which includes the Young Asian Entrepreneurs (CNBC TV18) 2019-20.  

What are the ways in which the firm is helping students and parents’ tide over this difficult time?  

Much before the pandemic, Cymatic has created its own eco-system, one of its kind, an interactive learning platform, that matches the needs of both students and parents. That being said, to navigate through these difficult times we did work upon some new technologies. Very recently we introduced India’s first 5D Assessment Framework to our learning platform. This framework will help teachers/experts to evaluate the progress of each individual student on the basis of 5 broad dimensions, and tailor learning basis the potential and capability.  

Apart from this, Cymatic also brings several other benefits which enables students as well as parents to have seamless learning. For instance, our platform brings an all India level competitive environment, with features like Test Series and heterogeneous group studies. Our modules are designed, with complete control/supervision for parents, to monitor and understand their child’s learning progress. Regular performance reports are also generated from time to time as well as frequent virtual parent-teacher meetings. 

We have made our entire model cost-effective, with multiple payment options and subscription offers, to enable easier adoption among the students, especially the tier 2 and tier 3 markets in India.  

How has the COVID-19 crisis disrupted you? 

With the advent of COVID-19, the ed-tech market has been in demand. Several new players have entered the market making it very dynamic. At the same time, the consumption patterns of the consumers have changed as well. Before the pandemic, we were operating with a limited period subscription-based model, however, we too had to bring in several changes to have a diversified approach for our monetization channel, tapping new media. Amid this COVID-19 crisis, we have launched 2 new models - "Pay What you Learn" – which allows students to select their syllabus and pay only for that, while the second model – Monthly Subscription – is for the students who are not able to pay the full course fee at a time and pay only for the fixed monthly syllabus, bringing them the same benefits, at their convenience.  

How is the firm ensuring continued education for the students during this time?   

COVID-19 has completely changed the dynamics of learning with greater emphasis on online education. Although online education has many facets but live classes has the most impact among all. Cymatic has been providing live classes with personalized learning path since last one year and is among the pioneer of providing these services in India. To ensure continued education for the students Cymatic has been offering: 

• Quality Teachers: Cymatic is connecting best subject experts to students to ensure the quality of learning 

• Live Classes: Students get to connect live with teachers, which ensures the bond building between students and teachers 

• 24*7 Doubt Assistance: helps students to clear their doubts from anywhere anytime. 

• Parents-Teachers Meetings: Parents get updated about the performance of their children 

• Recorded Lectures: helps students to revise the lessons whenever required and even during missed classes. 

• Adaptive Test: Students get to learn, test and improve their performance gradually. 

This approach ensures quality education and a systematic framework to excel in their learning.  

What’s your USP? Whom do you see as your biggest competitor?  

Like mentioned earlier, we have launched India’s first ‘5D Assessment Framework’ for K12 learning which has been a game-changer for our platform. We have created this distinctive model on our platform to help bridge the gap in the teaching-learning process. Apart from this, we also have a unique “Interactive Virtual Classroom” and “Peer Learning using Synchronization” in India, which delivers teachers directly to the students. This has been one of the most widely used technology and has enabled students to continue their learning.   

Lastly, our Live Video Interactive classes along with 24*7 Doubts assistance features, keep us way ahead of the competition. The Live Video interaction will allow students to have flexible learning as per the study timings of today’s generation.   

In terms of competition, it’s quite dynamic. Nevertheless, we are at pace with the top-notch brands in the ed-tech industry.  

What are your business expansion plans?  

We are planning to expand the business geographically, diversifying product while strengthening our content. We shall be introducing new courses like coding, language classes, commerce and law among others to cater to the demand of the K-12 industry, apart from newly added competitive exams.   

We aim to further widen our network in tier 2 and tier 3 markets – by expanding to 15 more cities in the next 9 months, reinforcing our sales force and robust back-office support.