How not to do “edtech”: the Indian conundrum

Is edtech simply about replacing textbooks with digital copies of the same or YouTube videos on an app?

Is it only about replacing the blackboard with a smartboard/TV screen in the classroom?

Is edtech about making student learning more engaging or is it about using tech to force them into more stringent rote learning?

Is edtech about liberating the teacher through technology or using the same for stricter compliance?

Is edtech about creating new learning opportunities or locking them into screens?

The edtech revolution is here. Thousands of schools, hitherto working only with chalk and board are now moving to tabs and mobile phones. With PDFs of textbooks, digital flashcards and teaching resources, teachers set out to teach students through virtual calls in the new normal. Students now sit glued to their screens, watching poorly made presentations with random images lifted from a Google search, with no scope for classroom discussions. Governments look at edtech as the magic bullet that will solve the major problems plaguing the public education system — poor teacher quality, poor infrastructure, and poor student enrolment.

But is Indian edtech on the right path? With multiple unicorns in its ranks, will it deliver on its key commitments? At this juncture, we must recall the original premise of edtech itself.

The promised land: A long way to go

Edtech was supposed to liberate students from the tyranny of rote learning, with information available at the click of a button, as and when needed. It was supposed to free students from having to memorize dates and facts to be regurgitated on an exam paper. It was supposed to free teachers from non-teaching tasks like marking attendance, scoring answer scripts, record keeping, and allow them to do what they do best: teach. It was supposed to shift classroom practices to drive inquiry, connecting students ideating and solving problems offering new ways of expressing themselves.

Broken promises: the Indian conundrum

But what is happening on the ground? With edtech, the Indian education system, traditionally driven by standardized testing, has a new ally to enforce rote learning.

1) Indian edtech is still about content: textbooks have gone digital, images are now in color, pictures are now replaced with links to YouTube videos, and a whole lot of objective mock and practice tests.

2) Tech is the new weapon for mass memorization. Indian edtech unicorns, hailed as the future of education, now use tech to prepare students at scale for summative exams that focus on memory. Tech drives nano and micro tests, basically testing memorization of each page of the textbook, with automated grading of students.

2) Teachers spend more additional time uploading data for reporting purposes than in teaching. Without the right tools, teachers spend an unforgivable amount of time converting paper-based student data into digital format.

These critical factors effectively nullify the benefits edtech is supposed to provide the education system. What should be done to deliver the original promises of edtech?

1. Rein in the profit makers: In a country where education cannot be for-profit by law, it’s telling that six edtech firms are unicorns with valuations running into tens of billions. Backed by the world’s largest capital funds, edtech companies are driving a frenzy, exploiting the Indian parents’ fear of missing out and uncertainty over the future of the 250 million school-going students.
2. Set industry benchmarks: There is an urgent need for the industry to create standards for quality. How does a consumer know what he is buying? In many instances. customers end up paying huge amounts just for a collection of freely available videos.
3. Indian edtech companies need to move beyond content and use technology to empower multi-modal learning.
4. Let teachers have a say: Make her part of the decision-making process. At the end of the day, she is accountable for student learning.
5. And finally, work on the culture of a school: A vast majority of Indian schools are highly restrictive places, inflexible, outdated in their ideas, with little freedom for teachers and students. In such instances, technology will only reinforce outdated practices and systems and would fail to truly offer the transformation our schools need today.