The global education technology market size was around $75 billion in 2019, and it is expected to approach $318bn by 2027, growing at a rate of 20% per year. This market, however, did not exist even a decade ago.
Depending on the present demand for skill-based work, people are more drawn to gaining skills than standard degrees. As a result, individuals are becoming more interested in online education, and the education technology, or edtech, business is expanding. Edtech, as the name implies, exists at the crossroads of teaching and technology.
Depending on the aim, edtech can take many different forms within and outside of the classroom, such as educational apps and games, podcasts, learning management systems (LMS), video conferencing software like Zoom, and online discussion forums, to mention a few. Even social media platforms, which are sometimes derided as time wasters, such as course-specific Facebook groups, can serve educational purposes.
Growth in Bangladesh
In recent years, edtech has steadily increased in Bangladesh. Many Bangladeshis are under the age of 26, and the government is placing a strong emphasis on digitalization. Edtech, which includes anything from virtual classrooms to online learning platforms, has become more widely known and has been gradually altering how education is provided in Bangladesh.
10 Minute School, Shikho, Interactive Cares, Ostad, EduHive, Sohopathi, and others such as Konnect and Muktopaath are key players in the Bangladeshi edtech market. These platforms provide a diverse range of online courses and educational resources in academics, skills, competitive tests, job preparation, and other areas, via videos, live classrooms, quizzes, and other learning materials.
Many traditional educational institutions in Bangladesh are also incorporating technology into their delivery and enhancement of instruction. Learning management systems (LMS) are being used in some schools and universities to allow remote learning and to handle relationships between teachers, students, and parents. Others are collaborating with edtech platforms to create courses, among other things.
Current platforms
The 10 Minute School began operations in mid-2014 in collaboration with Ayman Sadiq. Currently, the platform offers online video lectures to kids in grades 1 through 12, as well as university examinations, IELTS, GRE, and personal skill development. This platform's main YouTube channel currently has 1.79 million subscribers.
Interactive Cares, a cloud, and artificial intelligence (AI) platform has introduced an e-learning platform called "Interactive Courses" to assist students and young professionals in preparing for a competitive job market. Many students are enrolling and improving their skills. Moreover, they have been getting funds from different institutions from different countries in the world.
Ostad is a live online learning platform that provides a task-based personalized curriculum for a certain skill. Live courses continue with day-to-day task fulfillment. People join Day-1's live class with a single click from their Ostad profile, perform their homework, submit their tasks, receive feedback from the instructor, track their progress on the scoreboard, and then join Day-2's live class. People complete the entire course in this manner, and Ostad has a course completion rate of 99.98%.
Eduhive offers a wide range of educational content for kids in grades nine through 12, university admissions, BCS, and other career entrance examinees. In August 2019, Eduhive debuted its mobile app, which allows students to access its content in addition to its websites.
Sohopathi is an online platform where students and alumni may communicate, exchange knowledge, and organize and participate in academic events. The platform's goal is to improve academic environments by linking professors, students, and alumni on a single platform.
No more a four-walled world
Education is no longer confined to the four walls of a classroom. Although traditional classrooms remain the most common medium for delivering knowledge, particularly in developing nations, education increasingly has many faces and means.
Edtech has not only changed the way classrooms run, but it has also created a new arena for it - digital classrooms. Hybrid education methods, in which traditional lessons are supplemented with online assignments and assessments, have already begun in some of Bangladesh's urban schools and colleges.
Mahmodul Hasan Shesheir is research assistant at BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health. Faiaz Ahmed is a Consultant at the World Bank Group.
