MUMBAI, Mar 31 (AFP): From a multi-billion-dollar education startup to wired-up mannequins, technology is helping to revolutionise the way Indian schoolchildren are learning-provided their parents can afford it.
A host of online platforms are taking advantage of a surge in smartphone ownership to engage millions of youngsters with interactive games and animated video lessons.
India's education system suffers from a lack of investment, and the apps aid students who want extra tuition away from overcrowded classrooms and crumbling schools.
Major foreign investors are ploughing funds into India's growing "edtech" industry as they seek to capitalise on the world's largest school-age population who face fierce competition for university places.
"I have been using Byju's since last year and my performance has really improved. I understand mathematical concepts much better now," says 16-year-old Akshat Mugad referring to a Facebook-backed, Indian education app.
Byju's has become one of the world's largest online learning sites since it was founded in Bangalore in 2011 and is currently embarking on an ambitious overseas expansion.
It is just one of dozens of startups betting that kids are eager to learn differently from rote memorisation techniques that are used across much of Asia.
Edtech platforms are also taking off in other Asian countries, notably China and Taiwan.
"We wanted to make education fun," said Manish Dhooper, the founder of New Delhi-based Planet Spark, which uses "gamified" teaching methods.
Garima Dhir enrolled her six-year-old boy into a Planet Spark programmeme to study maths and English because she wanted him to get used to using technology at a young age.
"With interactive classes, my son is picking concepts without any stress and enjoying the process without fear of failure," she told the news agency.
Robomate, Toppr, Simplilearn, Meritnation and Edureka are others in the market.
India has an estimated 270 million children aged between five and 17.
Its online education sector is projected to be worth $2.0 billion to Asia's third-largest economy by 2021, according to research published by accounting group KPMG two years ago.
With revenues heading for $200 million, Byju's says it has around 32 million users in India using its e-tutorials that feature animations, live classes and educational games to match India's school curriculum.
It has raised more than $1 billion in funding since the beginning of last year, including from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, valuing the firm at around $5.4 billion.
"We want to be the largest education company in the world," founder Byju Raveendran, 39, whose stake in Byju's is now thought to be worth almost $2 billion, told the news agency.
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