Education - Issue #129: EdTech and the Pandemic

The Japanese publisher Benesse has invested US $50 million in Udemy, the online learning marketplace. Udemy is valued at US $2 billion, nearly tripling in value since its last round of financing in 2016. Udemy will uses the funds to increase its offerings of courses to individuals, and of professional development for employers to offer to their employees.

As per a report released by KPMG India and Google, Online Education in India: 2021, the market for online education in India is expected to witness a magnificent growth of eight times in three years.

“The covid-19 crisis has exacerbated the digital divide. The poorest students living in places with the creakiest digital infrastructure have been least able to take advantage of virtual schooling. But what has been achieved in many places has nonetheless been remarkable. Nowhere more so than in India, where more than 4,000 edtech start-ups, attracting over $2bn of venture-capital funding, have emerged in the past five years.“

To get a clearer picture of what the state of edtech will look like in a post-pandemic world and how schools can prepare for future obstacles, Promethean conducted a survey of nearly 1,200 US school administrators and teachers. The article presents key findings from the report.