Educational Technology in School Education in India

India is now the second-largest market for e-learning in the world; the sector’s future evaluation is pegged at USD 30 billion which is more than double that of India’s education budget. This has grown during the pandemic with a 30% increase in the time spent on education apps on smartphones reported since the lockdown. India is in the process of overhauling some of the legislative and policy frameworks related to the EdTech sector making a call to strengthen regulatory oversight timely. This Brief highlights some of the challenges and makes recommendations to address educational inequality pertaining to technology access and use, enhance child safeguarding, ensure consumer protection and address the commercialization of education.

The average price of an EdTech product on the Indian market is equivalent to 77.5% of the annual per capita income for its lowest wealth quintile; only 18% of poor and lower-middle-class users are happy with the services offered by EdTech companies compared to 31% of the middle and high-income households. India has been identified as the second most cyberattacks affected country in the world yet its data privacy rules do not provide specific provisions for the protection of children’s data by EdTech companies. India needs to invest more in providing digital access through schools instead of attempting to do so at the individual household level. Yet only 22.28% of schools in India have internet facilities. 84% of teachers struggled to deliver education through digital modes at the start of the pandemic and by the second year, 60% of them reported feeling inadequately trained to maintain hybrid teaching.

Stronger redress mechanisms for parents to address profiteering by EdTech companies are overdue given the spike in parental complaints. A more critical view of the use of technology that recognizes both its strengths and weaknesses would be essential.

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