Educomp Opening new 75 IIT coaching centers

Education content and service provider company, Educomp Solutions has planned to open 75 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) coaching institutes in the coming fiscal. The coaching  institutes will be opened on franchise basis. These coaching centers will be known as Leap Center and will provide VSAT-based training program including training programs through videoconferencing. "We have undertaken restructuring of our business recently and have created a new entity called Educomp Supplemental for our supplemental education business which includes tutoring, counselling and assessment. This initiative is a part of Educomp Supplemental," Shantanu Prakash, MD and CEO, Educomp has said. According to estimates, the IIT-JEE and AIEEE market size is estimated to be Rs 2,500 crore with an average coaching spend of each student being close to Rs 30-50,000 annually.

Pre-school players take big steps to growth

Sending a child to a pre-school, rather than teaching them the basics at home, is now being considered more effective by parents, even in Tier 3 and Tier 4 towns.

This is the market which the pre-school segment players are looking to tap in this fiscal. Players including Zee Learn, Tree House Education & Accessories and Educomp Solutions are looking to go deeper in the locations that they are present in.

Take Educomp Schools for example. Amisha Beri, Senior Vice President, Educomp Schools said that their Little Millennium pre-schools, have 250 centres in 65 cities. "We will be adding many new centres, but as  part of our strategy we will go deeper in existing cities rather than  add new cities," said Beri.

According to Beri, there is a rising demand for pre-schools in smaller towns as well. "The drivers are  growing middle class population, rising income levels and escalating demand for high quality education for toddlers. Rapid urbanisation and rise of nuclear families are the other factors that are fuelling the demand for branded pre-schools in Tier II and Tier III cities," she added.

The pre-school market has also seen some consolidation happen in the last few quarters. with some players exiting some ventures and others acquiring new companies in the segment. In March, Educomp Solutions completed the sale of its entire 50 % stake in Eurokids International Limited to a group of investors led by GPE India. The company had said it made a profit of Rs 70 crore on this investment, and that the proceeds would be used for its core businesses.

Similarly, in the same month, Tree House entered into a term sheet to purchase 100% equity stake in Brainworks Learning Systems, which is a pre-school chain. This was to expand their presence in markets like Delhi and Punjab, where the latter has a stronghold.

Players are looking at both organic and inorganic growth to expand their market reach. Anupama Srivatsava, National Head, KidZee Preschools and Mount Litera Zee School said that KidZee is looking to have 1 lakh enrollments this year, compared to 65,000 enrollments last year. "Our aim is to have a presence in each state and we already have 350 new centres till December," she said.

KidZee has 40-45 % centres in smaller towns, through their franchise network. Srivatsava added that their pre-school chain was a direct source of students for their Mount Litera Zee School. Further, she explained that they have also ensured that their franchisee partners become more productive. "Also, we may look at acquisitions if it fits our business plan," she said.

While some have been adopted franchisee model, others have emphasised on self-operated centres. Tree House had a net addition of 40 pre-schools in the third quarter of FY13 and the total number of centres as of December 31, 2012, was 349 across 38 cities. Out of this, the number of self-operated centres was 278.

Apart from the pre-school business, Tree House has also started providing school management services to 23 K-12 schools in 3 states. Rajesh Bhatia, Managing Director of Tree House said that any acquisition should add value in terms of their geographic reach and have a cultural fit with the organisation. Last year, the company had signed an agreement with MT Educare to acquire its pre-school division comprising six company-operated centers located at Mumbai and Pune.

Bhatia said that while there is a demand in tier 3 and tier 4 cities, it was important for them as to who their partner was. "We are very selective of our partners, since we are quality conscious," he said. Tree House has also built an educational complex in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. Bhatia further said that if the subject to the completion of the Brainworks acquisition, the company would focus on consolidation plus growth.

Bhatia would be putting in an additional Rs 30 crore in the company in the next few months. Deepening their reach in existing markets and going to newer markets will be the focus, according to him.

A Crisil research report has said that the pre-school business is expected to touch Rs 13,300 crore by 2015-16, out of which branded pre-schools are expected to contribute about Rs 4,500 crore. Further, the Indian Education Investment Report 2013, published by integrated franchise solution company Franchise India estimates that the number of pre-schools in India will reach the 33,000 mark by 2015 end, reporting a growth of 26 % annually.

Millennium School, Noida Celebrates World Heritage Day

The Millennium School, Noida celebrated World Heritage Day and extend the celebrations for an entire week, which concluded on April 24, 2013. Students visited Humayun’s Tomb and undertake a heritage walk to create awareness about the need to preserve the shared wealth.

World Heritage Day is celebrated every year on April 18 since 1982, and seeks to protect and preserve world heritage. This day encourages communities to work together towards restoring this shared wealth to its original magnificence and safeguarding it for future generations.

Millennium School, Noida Students visiting Humayun's Tomb

To mark the occasion, the students from class Prep to II visited Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi and distributed bookmarks to the locals and visitors around. The bookmarks read ‘Apni Dharohar, Apne Haath’. Students from classes VIII to X participated in a heritage walk organised from Teen Murti statues to Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Both these initiatives on part of the school were aimed at highlighting the need to protect our Heritage. The students interacted with the people and explained how it is the responsibility of not just the authorities but also the masses.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Rita Kaul, Principal, The Millennium School, Noida, said, “Our heritage is more than mere stone structures. It is our only connect with the history. On this day, we need to work towards ensuring that our heritage is preserved and can be handed down proudly to the following generations. We sensitize our students in such a way that they care for this inheritance just the same. Through these visits we want our students to further disseminate their knowledge.”

Back in school, a quiz and group discussion were organised for students from classes IV and V. The group discussion saw the students offer some of the most thoughtful and efficient ways for preservation of this legacy. Children from classes VI and VII participated in a poster making and slogan writing competition.

Set up in 2008, The Millennium School (TMS), Noida is part of a country wide chain of schools leveraging the Millennium Learning System, India’s most advanced school education system. The Millennium Schools have established themselves as a premier model for new generation schooling across India and are supported by Educomp Learning Systems Pvt. Ltd., India’s largest education company as its pedagogy partner. In a brief span of 5 years, TMS Noida has come to be recognized as a trendsetter in the school education space, standing out for its academic excellence, innovative technology adoption, sports facilities and co-curricular activities. TMS’s advanced learning system is oriented to help each child build on their core strengths while providing critical exposure that allows them to take informed decisions and excel in their chosen vocation. A conducive teacher-student ratio and a highly-motivated team of educators have positioned The Millennium School Noida as the school of choice for progressive parents.

Educomp Solutions India Rating is Going High

Educomp Online is a comprehensive one-stop portal catering to the educational requirements of K-12 students, teachers and schools. It provides a host of teaching and learning solutions that includes rich media digital learning materials such as video tutorials and assessments to help students comprehend and internalize abstract learning concepts.

Educomp Online is a virtual school for Educomp smartclass schools. A portal for students, teachers, parents and schools, it provides the smartclass schools with a 360 degree learning experience.

Educomp Online is powered by a vast repository of digital instruction materials which is continuously enriched through the ongoing development process. The content repository consists of thousands of highly animated and lesson specific multimedia modules. At home, students can access the content, teachers can upload assignments for students to download, and parents can access important information about their wards.

The curriculum reach unfolds from kindergarten to grade twelve covering subjects like Mathematics, Science, English, EVS, Social Studies, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Geography, Economics and Business Studies.

Educomp Online is an offering of Educomp Solutions Limited, India’s largest education company.

Educomp works closely with schools to implement innovative models to create and deliver content to enhance student learning. Educomp’s long undiluted focus on K-12, curriculum design and teacher education space in developing applications and products has revolutionized the learning process in India

Educomp QuEST

Educomp’s QuEST^TM (Quality Education for Students and Teachers) program is based on the core premise that every school can become a ‘Learning Organisation’ by bringing in a collaborative culture and dynamic practices in the school system.

Our QuEST program provides multifold services to help schools to reflect on their current reality and reach highest level of effectiveness.

From training programs to whole school development projects, we have services and solutions for all stakeholders in the education set up.

Some of the programs being run under QuEST are:

PDPE- Professional Development Program for Educators

PDPE aims at empowering teachers by equipping them with a vast repertoire of latest tools and techniques, preparing them to "Teach for Understanding." The objective of this program is to help teachers effectively implement instructional strategies to help diverse set of learners, learn better. PDPE conducts series of interactive workshops for teachers on topics such as Brain-based Instruction, Art of Questioning, Effective Strategies, Assessment Toolkit and Group Learning.

Programs for Students

Our programs offer myriad strategies to all students for achieving success that will last a lifetime. The students find opportunities for personal growth, self-discovery and fun. It enables them to enhance their learning and build certain core skills to help them grow into responsible, contributing members of the society. The core modules being offered in our program are Effective Communication, Persona Plus, Study Smart and Road to Success.

WSD- Whole School Development Program

WSD enables schools to reflect, set goals and move towards a whole school approach to improve themselves. Our WSD program is build on the premise that every school can improve if its culture and organizational policies are in synch with the vision and mission of the school. The program works at three levels:

1. School Audit: The   school   audit identifies   the strengths  and   areas of improvement within the school thus providing a direction to the program.
2. Building Vision: This process involves creation of an inspiring vision statement to drive the change process.
3. Training Program: Training,   monitoring and   handholding of teachers to achieve school improvement goals.

Mathemagic Lab Kit

A comprehensive set of creative manipulatives, based on research-based pedagogical guidelines, to improve the understanding of mathematical concepts. The kit contains a principal’s guide, detailed lesson plans and worksheets, math manipulatives, games &l activities, charts and teacher’s Record book.

Parents Empowerment Program

The program envisions to assist parents develop insights for being more effective parents. In our programs, parents are informed about the latest practices, and are empowered with simple strategies and techniques related to effective parenting, helping them understand children better.

False story on Educomp titled ‘The Rise and Fall of Educomp’

Forbes have depicted the Educomp fall. They cannot decide the fate of a company on their own proofs.

Forbes has chosen to depict Educomp and in particular the selective use in titling the article. Far be it for any magazine to herald the birth or demise of companies, the stretch of Forbes effort was downright insulting, if not embarrassing in its overreach.

Forbes seems totally swayed with a controlled flair for reportage, not flights of fancy and reportage based on flimsy evidence. The Forbes journalist was definitely intended on drawing a poor picture of Educomp. The resultant story provides enough proof.

Even after agreeing to participate fully in the story at a short notice and after extensive interviews over video conferencing and over a total of close to three hours of spoken and then written exchanges, the tenor of the journalist's views did not alter. And hence went on spoiling the image of Educomp. From a first list of questions sent to Educomp, which led them to clearly expect an antagonistic view,  to subsequent follow up questions which were leading in the broadest sense, they found that  the journalist  had fitted in details to a predetermined template.

That there is an attempt to sensationalize the story is not only evident from the headlines and title of the article but the opening paragraph itself - it paints the exit of former CFO Ms Gulati as an act of intrigue and her divestment of shares earned through ESOPs as some sort of a conspiracy.   As a journalist in the financial sector, he should have known that all senior management use ESOPs to sell shares and create value.

The body of the story is no less riddled with faux pas.   As it can be seen clearly, the journalist has got his entire table of financials mixed up. He has used standalone financials in the table on page 38 of the article and has called them “Educomp’s balance sheet”, whereas he has spoken about the consolidated businesses of Educomp in the story.

The bias is obvious when you consider that the journalist has cocooned himself with Educomp without making reference to the challenges all players in the sector are facing. Even in the current challenging economic scenario in the country, he forgets to mention that it is Educomp that continues to lead in this space. Or that of the eight companies active in the education space, seven have noticed erosion in market value in the last fiscal which has ranged from 22% to 77%. Or that in spite of this sectoral stress, and an erosion of 67% Educomp has retained its position as the number one company by valuation. Or that while the entire education space has declined in terms of valuation, Educomp is still the most valued education company in India.

 As if that were not enough, the journalist breaks another cardinal rule. He chose to quote a competitor on Educomp speaking negatively about the company and management - an unheard of indiscretion, just illuminating the compromise of an unwritten code of conduct within business and between competitors, just to make an extreme negative point.

He finds fault with Educomp's ability to pay off its debt or restructure it. Hundreds of companies raised FCCB in 2007-08 as it was a popular instrument then. Most companies who had raised FCCB saw their share prices lower and most had to arrange for funding to payback their FCCBs. Educomp was one among those able to do, in full, and on its due date, and from such marquee investors. But he sees this as a matter of regret.

When the journalist is faced with the conundrum that if the company is such a bad bet why has it been able to secure funding from marquee investors over the last fiscal, his patience disintegrates and unable to find it within himself to give credit where it is due, he chooses to demean it by passing it off as a 'surprise' and attributing it to nobody in particular and a competitor to boot.

It is clearly not worth his interest to analyse why IFC would choose Educomp to make its debut investment in the education sector in India and he cannot explain why Educomp has attracted more private investment than any other player and continues to be the investment of choice for high caliber investor interest globally.

The journalist's attempts to sensationalize the story continued through the article. His use of "several high profile exits" can be noted well. Clearly the exit of one CFO and a company secretary over the company's lifetime since listing is hardly something stunning. What’s significant is that he has conveniently forgotten to mention high profile entries like Sanjay Jain (former CEO - Tulip Telecom) as Group CEO and Anand Ekambaram (former Head of Learning Business, HCL) to head Smartclass business among others in the last one year. But then the journalist is obviously not evaluating anything judiciously!

The journalist presents the difference in 50000 school seats versus 22000 students as some sort of anomaly without analysing the reason. In India, by law, one can only launch grades from K-5 initially and then have ramp up to K-12 grades in a few years. When the capacity is constructed, then obviously capacity is created for all possible grades (because its cost-effective), but students will come in over time, so it is only natural that a school wouldn’t have 100% capacity utilization instantly.

The attempt to tarnish Educomp's business model is clear. The journalist picks out one case from South India to create a scenario of failure in spite of admitting a quote from Educomp that this was a case of dispute and represents less that 1 percent of the scenario. It also does not seem to interest the journalist that Smart Class is the industry standard model, the largest selling digital education system in India and that over 15,000 schools employ it across India and that over 15 Lakh children are recipients of this delivery model. 

The journalist has not stopped at filing an erroneous and motivated report, he has also attempted to target Shantanu Prakash directly. An entire piece within the main story aims to raise question about his leadership ‘style’ and opinions of direct competitors is evident proof of the underlying personal nature of this entire effort.

 As a matter of fact, the first set of leading questions sent and the next lot of follow up queries were clearly designed to rake up doubts and provide motives to Educomp's corporate governance. It is good to note that the journalist could not find fault in that line of argument, based as they were on cold numbers and performance indicators.

Educomp retains the pole position among education companies in India. It remains a pioneer with considerable IP advantages. It is the market leader and its business model is now being followed by almost all competitors.  Educomp is the largest company in education in India on several metrics. It is number one in seven of its nine main verticals or leading the pack in others. It has the biggest customer base of any education company; it has trained more teachers than any other and it remains the largest education provider to the largest number of school children in the history of India – reaching over 32,000 schools and over 20 million learners and educators across the world, largest in the world for any education company.

The education business, like all businesses in India and even across the globe, is passing through turbulent market conditions. At such times, expansion strategies, growth targets and bottom lines all come under pressure. This is not an unusual phenomenon in the life of a business. Had the journalist wanted to understand the business, its potential, its challenges, and how Educomp is reorienting itself to face them, he would have been greatly benefited, and Forbes’ readers equally illumined. But since the die was cast and the intent to destroy credibility pre-determined, he could neither see value in what was shown and told to him.

 Its disappointing, to say the least that such a prestigious magazine could bring out biased article.

Mathguru

Mathguru^TM is an innovative math-help program designed to provide solutions to the student’s problems, in a step by step fashion, using a pen and virtual notebook. Mathguru has a repository that contains all math problems and their solutions, from the NCERT Math textbooks, for Classes VI to XII. There are over 10,000 solutions available on the Mathguru website.

Mathguru is a site dedicated to helping students score upto 100/100 in math exams.

Mathematics is learnt by doing problems. Getting upto 100/100 in math exams is a matter of knowing how to do all the problems, step-by-step, the right way.

Mathguru provides the solutions to all the problems in the NCERT books. Mathguru teachers explain the concepts and key ideas required to solve each problem, and explain the solutions.

The student sees the solution written on a virtual notebook using a virtual pen. The student also hears the explanation from the teacher. The virtual notebook is a video file. The experience is similar to watching a teacher write down the solution on a notebook. The only difference is that the student can see and hear the solution as many times as is required to understand how to do the problem.

It’s like having your own, personal Mathguru, available 24x7, at any time and anywhere in the world.

Whenever a student is stuck at a math problem, or while revising for a math exam, the site is available to help.

There are also practice tests for each chapter. After going through all the problems, it is helpful to check your understanding and then review the concepts that you have not understood properly. The objective type tests help in checking whether more preparation and practice is needed before heading into an exam. After attempting the test, students get their score instantly along with the correct answers.

Parents too like Mathguru.

Many parents help their wards prepare for exams using Mathguru. The solutions available at Mathguru help parents in recalling the math they may have forgotten. Having parents help students is a great way for students to learn how important it is to do well in math, in school.

A Mathguru subscription is much cheaper than getting a private tutor or joining a tuition centre.

Further, learning on the web from home is much safer than having to go to a tuition center after school. Even good teachers are unable to give individual attention to students. But Mathguru teachers will not mind if a student does not understand the solution the first time and ask for it again and again.