Dearth Of Educators

All of us have heard the saying that the Battle of Waterloo was won in schools, at least once in our lives. This saying can be seen as a reflection of how without a teacher’s effort and dedication, our world would be a very different one. One might even say that the reason behind humanity’s progress is the constant work put in by teachers. Education is the liberator of masses, the backbone of development and without an educated population a country can’t hope to progress and grow. 

Similarly, as India has embarked on her journey to become a global superpower, the need to close the education gap and boost literacy rates across the states became of high priority. The first step towards that in the form of the Right To Education Act, 2009 but the staggering deficit of trained teachers in the workforce presents itself as a hurdle. At present, the nation needs to hire about 1.4 million trained teachers, a number which is estimated to grow up to 3 million by 2030.This lack of teachers is a massive problem for the education sector. This lack of ‘trained’ teachers affects the quality of education greatly. Furthermore, because of this dearth, subject specific teachers are becoming hard to find.

However, with the penetration of internet across India, the education sector has revamped and created a niche for itself. With the help of online aggregators and e-learning platforms, education has broken out of its four-walled cage and is reaching everyone. Back in 2015, this market was estimated to be around $3 billion and now with the Union government’s efforts towards providing internet access to every district under Digital India become more fervent, the growth in this sector has been exponential. 

This shift from the traditional referral method of subject specific education has been helpful for both students and teachers alike. The focus of the e- learning market in India is on providing online modules as well as connecting students with tutors for both school and college based tuitions.  The students now have more control and options as they actively make use of these websites, apps and portals. Students from all walks of education are able to search for excellent tutors and connect with them. Through online marketplace platforms, they are able to choose educators who meet their needs over the subjects, location, time and, method of teaching. Most of these sites provide students with package deals and access to additional study material. Many platforms also provide mid-level professional, re-skilling and even language courses. 

For educators, these sites have increased their reach and made their services easier to avail. Educators can now become content partners on such sites and enroll themselves for providing offline services as well. Since most of these educators have varying experiences, degrees and backgrounds, the students can choose the ones that they think would help them the best.

These online locators and training sites are effectively helping in imparting quality education to those who seek it. Additionally, these sites have also started a culture of e-learning, which is steadily gaining momentum in the country. Students are using e-learning platforms because of the ease of accessibility provided by them. e-learning has also become popular amongst working professionals as they can look up for and enroll in modules that helps them in both skilling and re-skilling.

Riding the wave of online education boom, many coaching institutes for competitive exams are also collaborating with e-learning platforms and marketplaces. One can easily look up for coaching for medical and engineering entrance exams, UPSC exam, GRE, IELTS, TOEFL, CAT and CLAT, to name a few. This is a step forwards in providing exam specific education and connecting aspirants with institutes.

As the Union and State governments pass laws to tackle the challenges of the education sector at grassroots level, online aggregators are doing their bit by not only imparting quality education, but also by connecting students and teachers through their platforms. With resident experts saying that the future of education in India will depend on these online facilities, the possibilities of evolution in this industry is amazing, even though it is in its nascent stages at the moment.

Sandip Kar

Guest Author Sandip Kar is Director, LearnPick: Sandip Kar, with his experience of 24 years in the industry, is the driving force behind the 2nd most popular tutor-search website in the market, LearnPick.in. Sandip commenced LearnPick.in in the year 2002, under the name ‘My Private Tutor’. At present, My Private Tutor is expanding on the international front in countries like the UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and the USA. However, in India, it has been re-branded to become LearnPick. With his dedication and perseverance, Sandip has grown through the years, and strives to do so, in the future too!