Ganesh launched TutorVista in 2005 with a goal to provide all students with individualised learning progra-mmes taught by world class experts so that children get the proper education needed for success. A personalised, 24-hour online tutoring and test prep service, geared toward all ages and subjects, including K-12, college test prep, college/university courses and continuing graduate courses, TutorVista employs experts based in India as well as throughout other areas in Europe.
Ganesh while giving an overview of his products says, our core products are personalied tutoring service (www.tutorvista.co.in) and animated educational content (www.edurite.com). Our core strength lies in the area of: Technology, where we have a very robust and scalable technology led model. We can conduct personalised tutoring sessions for 100 to 100,000 students on our portal. Most of our operations are carried online, so we have a high level of automation in areas of student management, tutor management, session scheduling, conducting session, payments, reporting, etc.
Scalability - We can at any point of time scale up by adding hundreds of tutors in a matter of week. Post that our processes take care of training, deployment, etc. This cookie cutter solution based upon our expertise in process oriented industry like BPO gives us the edge. Animated Education Content – We also have CD-Rom educational content, online educational content through Edurite (www.edurite.com). We cover all grades and all curricula.
PC and Internet penetration is still a huge hindrance. In Korea there is a 95% PC penetration whereas in India it would be around 5% (home segment). In US, the cost of PC would be a week’s salary at the most where as in India it is still 3 - 4 months’ of salary. These are certain issues that the industry is grappling with
There are certain lacunae when it comes to ICT-enabled education in India and in general worldwide. Current products and services are not bridging those areas. Our tutoring service makes reading more fun, interactive and exploratory. Our tutors are trained in instructional pedagogy which emphasis on engaging the students to maximise learning. Our services are “LIVE” services as opposed to just content dump, which many online institutes offer. There is online assessment for the student so that areas of weakness are identified and more attention is given to those areas.
Apart from this, we supplement our services with education content. There are interactive animations, virtual labs and graphics which explain a concept better.
There are three key developments which are driving the e-Learning market today in India.
a) Technology – Lowering cost and increased penetration of PC / broadband in the country have been major drivers in e-Learning market in India. Students are quite keen to explore and availability of online / offline resources have just fuelled their pursuit.
b) Competition – Most of the education system is based on rote learning. However, when it comes to deciding tests for engineering, medical, MBA, etc. the future is decided on understanding of concepts be it the IIT-JEE exam, CEE, AIEEE, AIIMS, CAT etc. So, there has been adoption of e-Learning to enhance the conceptual learning to the extent that many of the preparatory institutes have started bundling concept CDs with their courses.
c) Convenience – It is really convenient for the students as they can sit in the vicinity of their home and take online help from the best of the teachers or they can use educational CDs to understand and reinforce their learning.
And the sector which will see extensive growth is personalised service sector in education. Through advent of new technology and high adoption of online supplemental help this sector will be a beneficiary. It connects a student in a remote hamlet to the best teacher in a city like Delhi or Bangalore.
But then technology again comes as the key challenge for this sector. PC and Internet penetration is still a huge hindrance. In Korea there is a 95% PC penetration, whereas in India it would be around 5% (home segment). In US, the cost of PC would be a week’s salary at the most where as in India it is still 3 – 4 months’ of salary. These are certain issues that the industry is grappling with. Till then, it is the Brick and Mortar business way where the scale would be.
A seasoned entrepreneur, Ganesh has a strong known history for starting green field ventures and helping them develop into robust, successful market leaders. ‘We are relatively new in Indian market. Our tutoring service makes studying more fun, interactive and exploratory. Our tutors are trained in instructional pedagogy, which emphasise on engaging the students to maximise learning. Our services are “LIVE” services as opposed to just content dump. The tutor engages the student in practise sessions. There is online assessment for the student so that areas of weakness are identified and more attention is given to those areas.’
Ganesh explains the USP of his products further. We supplement our services with education content (Edurite, www.edurite.com). There are interactive animations, virtual labs (where student can conduct experiments) and graphics which explain a concept better.
In US market our proposition is quite compelling. Private tuitions in US cost $30 - $60 per hour which makes it out of reach for most of the population. At $99 / month of unlimited tutoring it is a strong draw for students and parents. We have been able to effectively marry Internet, technology and global resources to provide affordable, high quality, personalised tutoring services to our students based out of US. Our teaching methodology is quite engaging, animation-based and tutor-led. This has led to a high retention among students.
There are other companies which have competing business models. However, scale is of essence in this business. We have grown multiple times over the last 5 – 6 months as opposed to our competitors. We have in excess of 400 tutors from 25 different cities and have a robust and scalable operations portal which provides us a definitive edge over our competitors.
We have grown multiple times over the last 5 - 6 months as opposed to our competitors. We have in excess of 400 tutors from 25 different cities and have a robust and scalable operations portal which provides us a definitive edge over our competitors.
e-Learning is the most effective way to make a difference in Indian education system. The solutions have to be innovative. You need to work at grass root level with government. Most importantly, there is an urgent need to make education accessible through:
a)Use and adoption of technology
b)Use of teachers from other parts of the country. We need to accept it as a fact that most of the classes in rural India are not held either due to no assigned teacher or teachers who don’t come to school altogether. Marrying technology with teachers can ensure that the last lagging student is linked to the “A” grade teacher.
We have to work with initiatives like Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). There has to be effective partnership with NGOs which do work with kids and work with foundations like Azim Premji Foundation. To this intent, we have partnered with Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential programme. This is a<
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