Exclusive Interview with Lokesh Bajaj, Vice President Schoolnet India Ltd.

In an exclusive interview with DQ Channels, Lokesh Bajaj, Vice President Schoolnet India Ltd. talks about the future of Hybrid learning culture in the education sector, different opportunities for partners and how EdueBook.in and PartnerWins.in will help partners in this transformation journey. 

One prominent trend that is now emerging is EduTech and hybrid work culture. Especially in the education domain, now the work system has moved from work from home to a hybrid system. So, how do you view the growth of EduTech in the hybrid work culture and how do you plan to harness this opportunity?

In my view, hybrid learning is going to stay for a long time. Courtesy to COVID-19. We can say that we are forced to hybrid learning, but now, it is the new normal because of the COVID, we see that half of these students partial proportion of the students coming to the classrooms and partial proportion of the students attending the classes using the online tools from their remote locations. So, that is something that is going to be there and hybrid will stay and I will also say that hybrid learning comes with the real lifetime classroom instructions, we can have an asynchronous learning environment, where the platforms are capable enough of providing interactive sessions to the students. So, yes, this is going to stay and this is the new normal now, this is what I will say in terms of how we are placed Yes, we are appropriately placed as an organization connects, we are approaches providing solutions to meet the requirements of inside classroom and outside the classroom, the learning platforms are available so that a student can access the same content same environment outside the classroom also and inside the classroom, we have the tools which can set up the digital infrastructure inside the classroom.

What are the unique features of Indian EduTech and how can the partners help it grow?

In terms of the partners, helping this grow is it is actually the partners who are driving the entire learning ecosystem, I will say that the availability of the content, the availability of the devices, the availability connecting those dots in the entire ecosystem, I think is the responsibility of the partners and partners can take these solutions to the users who are actually in the need of these solutions. And partners are the ones who are meeting the customer's partners are the ones who will be taking these solutions to all the end-users and partners are the ones who are associated with learners. So, they play a very vital role in taking this ahead in actual in taking this to the I will say to the class to the students who are not getting any access, right it is connecting the disconnected you know, we can use the word. So, partners will play that kind of bridge in connecting the disconnected

Microsoft has introduced partnerwins.in. And eduebook.in. So in your opinion, how is Microsoft enabling the partners/ ecosystem?

Microsoft is enabling the partner and the ecosystem in a great manner. I will rather say those online collaborative platforms which are provided by Microsoft are ensuring the learning continues. These days, MS teams what is being used by the majority of the learners at home and the educators at the school is providing a platform wherein the learners and the educators are connected over the platform. Microsoft has done a tremendous contribution in that the EdueBook what they have these are the devices. The affordable devices Microsoft is proposing to launch for the education domain are the ones that are actually required because see the solution is available but the affordable solution is the key requirement to address the masses.  Microsoft is doing a great job in that partners win portal platform what Microsoft has, is providing the access to the community to the entire ecosystem to post their success stories. I think Microsoft is contributing tremendously to connecting the dots.

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What are the different opportunities for Partners in the Edu Tech sector?

The specific opportunity for the partners in this field, I will say is digital connectivity. We have almost 1.6 billion students who got impacted by the onset of COVID. We are in the teaching-learning had taken a pause 77 million of the students they didn't go back to the schools, they have been kept away from the schools for the past more than 24 months, I will rather say this and the digital connectivity becomes a very important area. So, partners have one of the most critical and most required opportunities, wherein students have to be connected is digital, when we say digital inclusion is not only about giving access to the students, now, digital inclusion is redefined. It is about giving high-quality education to the learners in a hybrid manner. So that the masses of the target audience can be addressed more appropriately.

Partners have the opportunities like providing the learning ecosystem, providing solutions where replaced the classroom. For the students outside the classrooms as well, providing online mentors support to the students, they should be able to talk to the teacher when they are at home also. So those interactive platforms are the real-time requirement. Because a student is used to learning in a traditional classroom in a traditional environment, the student is used to learning with the help of a teacher right. So that that support is now being expected. And students are also expecting that the same support should be there because they're also feeling a loss in with this with no access, no classes being happening, no physical interaction with the students with the teachers, I will say educators, so students have to be are in the desire of that, that person I will say personalized learning, touch or the experience that they are looking forward to and in that manner. So all these I will say these are the some of the opportunities which are available for the partners and India is a big country. We have a problem at hand. Education has to be democratized now. It has to reach the unreached there are a lot many students who don't have any access to any devices. So for them, the learning has to be initiated and all these solutions are I will see that as an opportunity for the partners in this ecosystem.