<div>NextEducation, India’s definitive provider of technology-backed K-12 solutions has significantly altered the education landscape in the nation since its inception in 2007. The company has created innovative products that make the processes of teaching and learning easy, engaging and effective. Its leading product offerings such as TeachNext, LearnNext, MathsLab, ScienceLab, RoboticsLab and EnglishLab are used in over 6,000+ schools across the country.</div><div> </div><div>In an interaction with <strong>BW|Businessworld’s Manish Kumar Pathak</strong>, <strong>Beas Dev Ralhan</strong>, <strong>CEO</strong>, <strong>NextEducation</strong>, gives insight on how he plans to further add value to the business venture.</div><div>Edited Excerpts: </div><div> </div><div> </div><div><strong>What is with IITians and entrepreneurship? Is the environment fostering people to take risks?</strong></div><div>I think the IITs provide preliminary skills and confidence to their students and prepare them well for corporate sector jobs. This encourages the students, even if a few of them, to take risks and accept the challenges that entrepreneurship poses.</div><div> </div><div><strong>What are K-12 solutions, and how has it managed to carve out a marketplace for itself?</strong></div><div>K-12 solutions are solutions that facilitate teaching and learning in a school. By introducing interactive technologies in the classrooms, and by making school management and learning tools readily available, K-12 solutions have successfully carved out a marketplace for itself. Right now, the largest segment is teaching aids (digital classrooms) and the market is expected to expand tenfold once adaptive learning becomes the primary way of teaching kids.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Considering the risks, has the education sector in India become more receptive to changes? Is the system becoming more transparent?</strong></div><div>The education set up in India has reached a level where there is no dearth of new and innovative ideas in the market. Everyday a new product is introduced to explore the learning processes in children. Since, parents nowadays are more educated and involved than ever before, a certain pressure has built up on the school managements to provide quality education to its students. Moreover, because of the many management softwares and applications in existence, school management has become much more transparent and efficient than ever before. </div><div> </div><div><strong>What are your essential targets, and what are your future expansion plans?</strong></div><div>Our vision is to reach out to at least 25 per cent of the kids in India. But as of now, instead of expanding, we are focussing on consolidating our products and services. I am very happy with the way we and our products have been received across the country and we would definitely want to expend further.</div><div> </div><div><strong>What is your USP which you consider to be the pivotal aspect of your model?</strong></div><div>For us, a customer’s satisfaction is more important than our profit. We believe that in order to acquire a large customer base we need to focus on quality rather than quantity. But, it is difficult to find collaborators and sponsors who share our beliefs. We are very grateful to have such investors who have established their faith in our company.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Are people receptive towards the technology aspect in education, considering many are more comfortable with the conventional learning and teaching methods?</strong></div><div>I feel students and parents are quite receptive. But, the responsibility primarily falls on the teachers, headmasters and principals of the schools. They not only have to employ the latest innovations in classrooms but also make sure that no student is left behind.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Where do you see the education sector in future? Will the bubble burst or just enlarge further?</strong></div><div>The bubble encompassing the education sector has already burst. In the case of the K-12 solution market, a number of investments have failed and the competition pool has reduced from double digit to single digit players. I think over the next 2-3 years, with 4G readily available, the market will multiply at least ten times.</div><div> </div><div><strong>How effective will the concept of Big Data be in India, since the demography is so vast and diverse?</strong></div><div>As far as I understand, Big Data refers to huge data sets which can’t be processed with the commonly available software tools within a specific period of time. Big Data becomes further complicated in diverse cultural setups, like India. In the education sector, Big Data’s impact is immense and we are working on various solutions powered by it. However, right now, I cannot elaborate further due to the competitive nature of such solutions. </div><div> </div>
