“Pandemic gave the EdTech sector the push to promote mass adoption”

90+ My Tuition App, a pioneer in imparting online education through customised learning solutions, has roped in cricketer Rishabh Pant as their brand ambassador for their new TVC, which has been conceptualised by Benchmark International. Rishabh Pant has also contributed his ideas for the script of the TVC, and the 60-second long TVC portrays his humorous side and acting abilities for the first time in front of the camera. The collaboration is to reach the best in class affordable education to the underprivileged sections of the society.

The aim of the TVC is to highlight the interesting and fun side to education. The central thought of the TVC is “Score Karo, Hero Bano”, referring to the fact how scoring plays an important role in cricket as well as in exams, drawing an analogy between the two. The inclination of Rishabh Pant for scoring centuries on the cricket field and the dedication of the brand to help students score 90+ in exams, created a strong bond and connection between the two. The app delivers a curriculum matching that of the exam patterns of CBSE boards and other state boards, offering a textbook oriented digital education.

In a conversation with Adgully, Vingish Vijay, Founder & Curator, 90+ My Tuition App, elaborates on the campaign featuring Rishabh Pant. He also speaks at length about the growth of the EdTech sector in India, especially during the pandemic perios, and what sets 90+ My Tuition App apart from the other players in this field. Excerpts:

What is the concept behind the TVC of 90+ My Tuition App featuring cricketer Rishabh Pant? 

The concept behind 90+ My Tuition app’s new TVC was to keep it fun, just like cricketer Rishabh Pant. We, as a company, aim to make the regular textbook curriculum fun through our interactive and simplified content and that’s what we aimed to show with the TVC. Pant is known for his big-hitting and high scores on the field and as an associative message with that, the TVC says your children can score 90+ by learning through our App. 

What was the reason for taking in Rishabh Pant as the brand ambassador? 

Rishabh Pant and 90+ Plus My Tuition App’s association is a seamless one as the cricketer is known for his fun and high-scoring brand of batting even in Test cricket, while our App enables children to learn in an interactive manner and score 90+. With his quirky personality on the field, Pant is a popular figure among the youngsters and his batting exploits stand true to our marketing motto is ‘Score karo aur hero bano’. 

What is the core message of the TVC? 

The TVC is meant to send out the message that 90+ My Tuition App is priced at very accessible rates for we believe in making online education available to all sections of the society. Through the TVC, we also want to show that learning can be fun if the information is given to the children in an interactive manner. 

How are Edtech companies transforming the face of education? 

Edtech companies are making education more accessible and self-paced. E-learning is centred around the students more than a regular classroom, which makes the learning environment more personal. Online education is more cost-effective as it reduces the need for travelling, physical textbooks and childcare responsibilities. After Covid-19 hit the world in 2020, online education has taken an even bigger role in shaping the future of children. 

Can Edtech companies replace formal education or supplement it? 

Edtech companies can supplement formal education and make it more fun and interactive for children. Formal education comes with various other factors like personality building, and co-curricular development, while edtech companies focus only on strengthening the academics of the students. 

How is the acceptability of Edtech platforms in India and will it change in the future? 

Parents are turning to Edtech platforms more often than not since the last few years. In the early days, parents used to send their children to tuition centres, but that is being replaced by online education nowadays. Edtech platforms make education more personalised for the students and there is greater focus on each child, making it a lot more effective. With the world moving towards becoming more digital, Edtech platforms are only going to grow. EdTech companies are creating visual based contents that will help the students to understand the topics easily and they won’t forget the visuals which they watched.

How is 90+My Tuition App different from other Edtech platforms? 

90+ My Tuition App offers textbook oriented learning and our content is crafted in a way which is fun for the students to learn and understand and also it is in sync with the school curriculum. The app doesn’t require an active Internet connection and can be accessed offline on any tablet or phone while being on the go. Studies say that the attention span of school going students is on average 15-20 minutes, marrying boring text with audio-visual help in better retention among kids. We have a ‘Parent corner’, which helps parents to be in sync with their child’s progress and also we provide a ‘doubt ticketing’ feature, which helps students by solving their doubts in real time.

We also provide the most simple and accessible content pedagogy for 14 State Education boards and CBSE board curriculum for 5th to 12th divisions in a multilingual format. Aligning with the Prime Minister’s vision, we also launched our Virtual labs, which is an online version of the school practical labs. Through the content that we offer, learning becomes easy for students of all age groups.

What are the opportunities and challenges in the Edtech space in India and what does the road ahead look like? 

Edtech companies have the opportunity to completely take over the tuition business and build a culture of homeschooling. Nowadays, a lot of parents consider open education for children as it allows more time for the students to pursue co-curricular activities and that’s the space that Edtech companies can vociferously target. Among the challenges for the Edtech sphere, the major one would be the availability of a strong Internet connection across India. While Edtech companies have been able to make inroads in urban spaces very well, the access to strong internet signals is still lacking in various places of the country and that does not allow online education to reach those areas. There is constant growth in data connection all over the country and in the future as the digital space booms, so will the Edtech sphere. 

How does 90+My Tuition app reach the underprivileged sections of the society? 

We offer digital learning for the curriculums of CBSE and different state boards at an extremely affordable rate. We also offer a few of these services for free by uploading our content on YouTube. We are living in times where anyone and everyone can own a mobile phone, but quality education is still not reachable to the underprivileged section of the society. Our content is well curated with the help of our experts and hence, we can easily provide quality education to the underprivileged sections of the society.

Is there a greater need for marketing and advertising for Edtech companies post pandemic and what has changed in these two years in the sphere in terms of reception and usage? 

Even before COVID-19, there was already high growth and adoption in education technology. Pandemic gave the EdTech sector the push that was much needed in order to promote mass adoption. Before the pandemic, companies like ours were already present, contributing to the expansion of the EdTech sector, but the pandemic gave birth to many EdTech companies and hence, to stay relevant, marketing and advertising for Edtech companies is more important than ever before. In order to reach our target audience and explain to them the different service that our company offers is extremely important and this is where marketing and advertising plays an extremely important role. In these two years, we have had hundreds of EdTech companies, offering thousands of different kind of services, but informing the end consumer on what product will suit their needs the best, is only possible through targeted marketing and advertising.