A seasoned education management professional, Yeshwanth Raj Parasmal is the Co-Founder and Principal Director of 21K School – India’s first online school. He holds an experience of over two decades in designing and executing innovative curriculums and learning techniques that are directed at creating an ecosystem of application-based learning for students.
The last few months, as the COVID 19 pandemic captivated the world, it brought nearly everything to a crashing stop. This affected businesses across sectors adversely across the globe. However, it has additionally given a push to EdTech organizations all the while because of schools and colleges being shut.
E-learning has seen a boom in India, especially since pandemic, and therefore one can see a major transition from old school chalk and board teaching method to the one which is now driven by technology.
It is important to allow online education (not just online schools) to grow at its own ecosystem guided by industry standards and self-regulation. It is a prime customer-driven approach and market-led assurance for online education. The entrepreneurs’ creativity and ingenuity must be allowed to flourish in the market, fueled by private investment. For long, the education sector has been chained in the myriad of laws and regulations, just like the industry was before the winds of liberalization announced in 1991 by Manmohan Singh in the epic budget. Today, the education sector requires a fresh new lease of life to survive, co-create and grow to cater to the needs of different segments of parents in a culturally diverse and socially sensitive country like India.
However, there are still a few concepts that are yet to be cleared to the Indian audience in light:
Technology, knowledge and skills are equally important
With the new advancements in technology every day, boosting the knowledge of the students with the help of machine learning, artificial intelligence and data available in online schools and e-learning platforms are growing, this leads to higher expectations from future professionals. An imaginative classroom environment gives limitless opportunities for innovative thinking, problem-solving and shared learning experience that can assist students in interfacing with others on an individual level.
On the other hand, human life skills such as creativity, innovation, and collaboration are equally important. It encourages students to create strategies that help manage complex and unexpected circumstances.
Understanding online schools
Online schooling is still a new concept for some. It is time to understand that online schooling offers great advantages of an alternative education system without any limitations of a traditional physical school.
Virtual schools are the future of the education industry that unlocks numerous opportunities, which helps leading students in the choice of the direction they wish to go. The concept of online education holds tremendous potential to ensure that no child is left behind; even the parents are increasingly focusing on adopting alternative schools education structures such as online schooling and e-learning.
Opportunities in future
Like never before, education establishes the structure of future achievements. The most brilliant and best-educated have opportunities as compared to the less educated. While education was consistently important, it’s more valuable for today’s progress than it was before. A major reason behind this is that demand for those having specialized knowledge has developed massively.
Furthermore, the education industry is majorly about shaping the future of generations further. With the growing knowledge and technology, it has definitely helped students to learn better, faster and conveniently. E-Learning has brought some major advantages of which one of the most beneficial is that students can choose courses from all over the world. This helps them explore and achieve their desired field to build their future.
In conclusion, it is unlikely that educational organizations will struggle with the weight of advanced technology. However, to stay on track, successful educators will have to switch to the virtual platforms and add them to their teaching models as the days of using pen and paper are slowly taking a back seat. It is important to promote online schooling in India to keep students interested and more engaged in the formal way of education. Computer clusters, smartphones and interactive whiteboards are now becoming a fast feature of modern education. These methods bring a rapid advancement in teaching and learning methods.
More About Yeshwanth Raj Parasmal
Based out of Bangalore, Yeshwanth has spearheaded various entrepreneurial ventures including Strategum Eduserve and Vyaasa Learning Solutions aimed at benefiting students, teachers, and the education sector at large. Over the course of his enterprising career he has contributed to the establishment of 75 educational institutions and managing investments of over INR 1100 crore.
In his current capacity, Yeshwanth has been working tirelessly to provide quality education to students located across the country by overcoming the challenges of access, equity, and affordability. Yeshwanth’s area of expertise lies in strategic planning, system development, culture, and value mapping along with change management, brand building, resource management and cost optimization for both the offline and online aspects of the educational landscape.
With 21K School, Yeshwanth’s vision is to encourage and provide the new generation of home schoolers with the best possible learning tools for a well-rounded, meaningful and joyful education.