02/02/2022
Indian Edtech Sector formulates self-regulatory code of conduct to improve transparency and governance
India’s rapidly growing EdTech sector recently took a step towards self-regulation. Leading Indian EdTech firms with support from Internet and Mobile Association of India have set up an India EdTech Consortium (IEC), with the objective to formulate a code of conduct for self-regulation outlining principles, standards and governance mechanism for providing Edtech services.
The IEC has membership of companies such as Byju’s, Great Learning, upGrad, Vedantu, Careers 360, Doubtnut, Harappa, Simplilearn, Toppr and Unacademy.
The Indian government was recently looking to come up with a policy to regulate the sector to address issues of monopoly and prevent exploitation of students by some edtech platforms through lofty promises or unfair practices. They had also issued an advisory last month of dos and don’ts for students and guardians looking to sign up for online courses and alerting them to be cautious of unfair practises used by many EdTech firms. This prompted the edtech platforms to step in to prevent state intervention and formulate a framework that addresses red flags raised by the government.
According to the IEC, student interest has been kept at the core of the code of conduct, such that students are empowered to make informed decisions, their rights are protected, and their grievances addressed timely. Use of acceptable terminology for programmes, for example for MBA, BBA and others in advertisements will be made in full adherence with guidelines issued by the UGC and AICTE. The code of conduct framework has been formally shared by IEC with the Ministry of Education.
British Council Comments
India is the second largest market for E-learning after the US. The sector is expected to reach a value of GBP 3 Bn by 2026. EdTech has been one of the least funded sectors in India until 2019, but the rise of remote learning during pandemic years has given a fillip to this otherwise neglected segment. From Janaury 2020 till halfway 2021, four EdTech start-ups have turned into unicorns (a company valued at above GBP 740 million) and 1 into decacorn (a company valued above GBP 7 billion) – all due to huge interest from investors in this sector since 2020.
Considering the exponential growth in the last two years, and that the Edtech ecosystem impacts over 500 million school students, college students and working professional across India, self-regulation to safeguard learners’ rights is a significant and positive step.
The Ministry of Education has for now, put the regulation policy which they were planning to bring in on hold, in view of the outreach and course-correction proposed by the Edtech firms. They are inclined to closely monitor the implementation of the code and see if self-regulation can uphold the standards set by the IEC and address grievances faced by students before making any intervention.
Currently, the self-regulatory code of conduct applies to Indian Edtech platforms. This development, however, will be useful for international investors and business partners who are following emerging sectors in India, either to invest or collaborate in service provision.
For any further queries please write to Sandeepa Sahay
Further reading
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/india-edtech-sector-self-regulation-
https://www.fdi.finance/sectors/education
https://static.investindia.gov.in/2020-10/FDI-PolicyCircular-2020.pdf
https://inc42.com/features/with-3-new-unicorns-indias-edtech-startups-raised-4-7-bn-in-2021/
https://www.ibef.org/blogs/india-to-become-the-edtech-capital-of-the-world
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