Education: Business With A Social Cause

Shantanu Rooj has been an entrepreneur for the last 25 years now. His previous organisation was working with schools and colleges, helping them automate their processes and improve customer service. While at that, he realised the challenges of distance education learners – this lacked engagement, learning outcome and above all employability. He figured out that through use of technology, it is possible to improve the outcome for the learners. That gave him the idea to start TeamLease EdTech to solve the problem of outcome, signalling value and employability of distance education learners in the country.

The company recently won 'Innovative Technology Solutions for Higher Education Provider' award. On how his company has been able to outperform other players in this category, Rooj expresses, “It feels great to be recognised at this prestigious platform. We believe that our focus on changing the outcome of the distance learning degrees at scale and ensuring employability, signalling value and high engagement through an integrated technology platform helped us win this.”

The company partners with India’s leading universities and helps them design, develop and deliver high-quality, engaging and employable programmes at affordable prices. “Currently, we work with about 55 universities and 750 employers serving about 5.5 lakh students. We believe that we can increase these numbers 5-fold in the next 5 years,” informs Rooj.

Speaking on the Indian higher education landscape, Rooj shares, “Higher education is considered as a pathway for students that leads them to build their careers. However, most often the students are disappointed as they get caught in the doldrums and are forced to take up additional courses to improve their employability.”

“The welcome change is the fact that NEP 2020 focusses on building skills alongside academic knowledge by embedding this within the course curriculum,” he adds.

Rooj believes that education is a business with a social cause.“Every new entrant must realise that the businesses that can provide the right ROI to the learner are the only ones that survive,” suggests Rooj.

“Hence, focus on consumer service, engagement and a long-term vision are necessary to survive and thrive in this market,” he further says.