Browsing, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic won't be able to flourish if you ignore the other 'R's.
Above 2 million children in 2, 200 private universities around the world use his 'Smartclass' every day; 4 lakh kids so far are registered with online short training site WiZiQ; 4 lakh teachers have been trained just this coming year in skills they would have mastered if they had done a fundamental BEd; 14, 500 computer labs have recently been constructed in government schools... If perhaps you're looking for proof that Hr} manager Creation Minister Kapil Sibal is on the right keep track of while saying the legislation will be converted to allow for-profit businesses to the education business, Shantanu Prakash's Educomp Solutions Limited's success provides enough of this, writes Sunil Jain.
Much is known about 15-year old Educomp and its success -- Income are up from Rs 112 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 517 crore in 2008-09; Return on Investment (RoI) from doze. 92 to 16. apr per cent in the same period; Return on Capital Employed (RoCE) from 28. 5 to twenty seven. 8 per cent; Come back on Net Worth (RoNW) from 24. 1 to 35. 6 per dollar. So I actually want to meet Prakash for his take on whether Sibal's bitten off more than they can munch while making Class 15 exams optional; on whether we even must have government bodies like the All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) for education [think of the American indian School of Business (ISB)which is doing well with no accreditation]; on can be wrong with the not-for-profit model if it allows people like him to expand how they have; and yes, does Prakash's move to bricks-and-mortar colleges suggest the current model of computer-aided teaching tools (that's the Smartclass for which parents during these 2, 200 schools pay Educomp Rs 150 every month) is flagging?
Jooxie is lunching at Olive Seashore, the still-trendy Mediterranean food joint at Chanakya Puri. We're sitting outside, partially since the weather is actually just started getting nice and partly because, like most other restaurants, in which gaggle of kitty-party women inside -- for a long while, only women stream in, prompting Prakash to say that we are going to the only men in the area, apart from the stewards of course.
When we're cutting the freshly-baked bread that's served on the side and deciding on orders, we speak of what appears like a very well-planned march from Smartclass to pre-schools (400-plus Eurokids and 170 Roots-to-Wings), online tutoring, bricks-and-mortar institutions (23 with 16, 500 students), high-end vocational education with Raffles University, a distance education tie-up with the Pearson Group of the united kingdom (it owns Penguin and the Financial Times). We joke about the title of the reserve, Stay Hungry Stay Unreasonable, by Rashmi Bansal on 25 IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) graduates like Prakash and Naukri's Sanjeev Bikhchandani who decided to go out on their own -- a friend's wife, Prakash explains to me, believed it to be a new diets book! (Disclosure: I almost bought Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul so I could make soups for my son. ) Prakash refuses to get drawn by my review that IIMs are simply a fancy recruitment process and don't really add much value -- the reality that IIM-A is, after all these years, partying just 25 graduates stepping into their own ventures, Perhaps, does tell a certain kind of story.
Prakash, to get his CV out of the way, commenced life as a businessman, much to the dismay of his daddy, a SAIL officer who, like so numerous others, wished his son to analyze for the IAS. Began, in the sense, he trained at the Delhi Community School in Mathura Street, traveled to Shri Ram University of Commerce (SRCC) and then to IIM-A and, right after, joined an SRCC colleague in the education-aids business -- if you schooled in Delhi, chances are the skeleton you examined in the biology lab was sold by Prakash.
The orders finally arrive (a Bruschetta followed by a Contadina pizza for him and a Caesar's greens accompanied by a sea striper for me) and after a bite, Prakash smothers his pizza with Tabasco -- it's unlikely really that bad, so possibly he just ordered mistakenly. I don't the genuine same with my seafood, the flavouring's delicate, refined. Sipping his Diet Cola (after all the mozzarella cheese, keeping a watch on calories is most likely par for the course), Prakash says this is about the time CBSE introduced computers as a curriculum -- so he left his good friend, borrowed money at high rates and started buying computers to install in schools, the growth was slow but steady and, most crucial, profitable. This is where, Prakash says, this individual learnt the best idea in business -- sell to consumers who can get others to pay! The colleges got the computers free (the same applies to the Smartclass), and this made them look hi-tech and attracting parents who paid Prakash separately. The rest then followed and, today, with 400 people just growing education content, in five Indian languages, Prakash says, he has the major team doing such work in the world.
Regarding whether the distance education model is flagging, Prakash take into account how its share in the revenues (65 per dollar at the moment) is rising -- just 2, 200 of the seventy five, 000 private schools have his Smartclasses and just 14, 000 of the 925, 000 government universities are included in his computer labs, an indication displaying how much more range there is. So just why the 23 bricks-and-mortar schools (apart from the pre-schools) and plans to go to 150 by 2012? Matching to a CLSA brokerage firm report, Prakash says, Indians spend $25 billion (Rs 112, 500 crore) a year on education until Class 12 and another $5. 5 billion on tutoring -- needless to say, he wants to be part of this great business where, to quote him, demand outstrips supply by a huge margin and the business is cash-flow negative.
To understand why for-profit is so important, you must understand Educomp's model for bricks and mortar. The school should be run by a not-for-profit trust, that's the legislation. So even though the trust operates the school, Educomp is a vendor to the trust. Educomp buys the land and creates the building (in a new school), provides the course material and so on and then charges the trust for its service. The trust gets to retain its profit, but Educomp has created an enterprise model through which it is able to gain as an education seller -- it then uses this profit to catch the attention of investors and keep their model going. Obviously, a for-profit model where shareholders can invest directly is an improved one, but precisely wrong with the not-for-profit one, I ask. Prior to answering, Prakash points away that although the trust model doesn't pay any taxation, his model converts this into a for-tax model since Educomp pays taxation on the income it earns as an education service agency to the trust. That important clarification away of the way, Prakash says there's no problem with the existing not-for-profit model, provided you avoid want to expand fast. The bucks lies with the trust, and that's it. If, one the other side of the or maybe hand, you want to expand, you need fairness funding... only for-profit can deliver that. We have a discussion on endeavor capitalists (VCs) that basically fit to print here, none of which, Prakash insists, applies to his VC who brings a lot of ideas to the table and also understands business.
Which in turn brings us to Sibal. Isn't it foolish to abolish the Class 15, and eventually class doze, boards since the panels provide a neutral way in which to understand a student's ability; if the tension over the Class 12 board is to be replaced with the strain over a school entry exam, what's the difference? Since I'm knowing for sure I'm right, Prakash states that in case you accept the argument that Sibal is getting a few things wrong, the important thing is that he could be moving in an area where policy has been fixed for many years. You mean it's like adding a spec of dirt and grime in an oyster, the shake-up it causes produces a pearl? Exactly, Prakash seizes after that. Nevertheless why have regulators, why not let parents and students decide which school/college is the best, We persist. I mock Sibal's latest decide to set up 2, 500 schools on a public-private-partnership (PPP) most basic which are to be regulated by the federal government -- another layer of bureaucracy!
Yes, and no. Obviously choice is important, states Prakash, but schools/colleges, like ISB, are free to make the decision if they want to align to some standard. Aligning to a CBSE, or even an AICTE, allows parents/students to learn they can expect a certain standard, that's all -- yes, if the government said CBSE/AICTE was the only standard and everyone had to keep to it, that would have been problems. Nevertheless surely, prescribing 100 rectangular feet of balcony space outside each classroom, or any such number, as the Delhi government will, I ask, is ridiculous? However, Sheraton prescribes criteria, Prakash counters. The specifications can be changed if they're out of hit, but absolutely nothing wrong with standards or regulations, this individual insists, what's wrong is the licensing that most state governments perform -- you require an "essentiality" certificate before you start and that means the usual palm-greasing.
With all this emphasis on learning, does Prakash still read, considering he fondly recalls his father's big snacks were books? Not much, he admits, struggling to recall the name of the last book this individual read. Perhaps if this individual starts adult education classes? Re-Kindle, so to speak. To be submitted to - yourstory
Above 2 million children in 2, 200 private universities around the world use his 'Smartclass' every day; 4 lakh kids so far are registered with online short training site WiZiQ; 4 lakh teachers have been trained just this coming year in skills they would have mastered if they had done a fundamental BEd; 14, 500 computer labs have recently been constructed in government schools... If perhaps you're looking for proof that Hr} manager Creation Minister Kapil Sibal is on the right keep track of while saying the legislation will be converted to allow for-profit businesses to the education business, Shantanu Prakash's Educomp Solutions Limited's success provides enough of this, writes Sunil Jain.
Jooxie is lunching at Olive Seashore, the still-trendy Mediterranean food joint at Chanakya Puri. We're sitting outside, partially since the weather is actually just started getting nice and partly because, like most other restaurants, in which gaggle of kitty-party women inside -- for a long while, only women stream in, prompting Prakash to say that we are going to the only men in the area, apart from the stewards of course.
When we're cutting the freshly-baked bread that's served on the side and deciding on orders, we speak of what appears like a very well-planned march from Smartclass to pre-schools (400-plus Eurokids and 170 Roots-to-Wings), online tutoring, bricks-and-mortar institutions (23 with 16, 500 students), high-end vocational education with Raffles University, a distance education tie-up with the Pearson Group of the united kingdom (it owns Penguin and the Financial Times). We joke about the title of the reserve, Stay Hungry Stay Unreasonable, by Rashmi Bansal on 25 IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) graduates like Prakash and Naukri's Sanjeev Bikhchandani who decided to go out on their own -- a friend's wife, Prakash explains to me, believed it to be a new diets book! (Disclosure: I almost bought Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul so I could make soups for my son. ) Prakash refuses to get drawn by my review that IIMs are simply a fancy recruitment process and don't really add much value -- the reality that IIM-A is, after all these years, partying just 25 graduates stepping into their own ventures, Perhaps, does tell a certain kind of story.
Prakash, to get his CV out of the way, commenced life as a businessman, much to the dismay of his daddy, a SAIL officer who, like so numerous others, wished his son to analyze for the IAS. Began, in the sense, he trained at the Delhi Community School in Mathura Street, traveled to Shri Ram University of Commerce (SRCC) and then to IIM-A and, right after, joined an SRCC colleague in the education-aids business -- if you schooled in Delhi, chances are the skeleton you examined in the biology lab was sold by Prakash.
The orders finally arrive (a Bruschetta followed by a Contadina pizza for him and a Caesar's greens accompanied by a sea striper for me) and after a bite, Prakash smothers his pizza with Tabasco -- it's unlikely really that bad, so possibly he just ordered mistakenly. I don't the genuine same with my seafood, the flavouring's delicate, refined. Sipping his Diet Cola (after all the mozzarella cheese, keeping a watch on calories is most likely par for the course), Prakash says this is about the time CBSE introduced computers as a curriculum -- so he left his good friend, borrowed money at high rates and started buying computers to install in schools, the growth was slow but steady and, most crucial, profitable. This is where, Prakash says, this individual learnt the best idea in business -- sell to consumers who can get others to pay! The colleges got the computers free (the same applies to the Smartclass), and this made them look hi-tech and attracting parents who paid Prakash separately. The rest then followed and, today, with 400 people just growing education content, in five Indian languages, Prakash says, he has the major team doing such work in the world.
Regarding whether the distance education model is flagging, Prakash take into account how its share in the revenues (65 per dollar at the moment) is rising -- just 2, 200 of the seventy five, 000 private schools have his Smartclasses and just 14, 000 of the 925, 000 government universities are included in his computer labs, an indication displaying how much more range there is. So just why the 23 bricks-and-mortar schools (apart from the pre-schools) and plans to go to 150 by 2012? Matching to a CLSA brokerage firm report, Prakash says, Indians spend $25 billion (Rs 112, 500 crore) a year on education until Class 12 and another $5. 5 billion on tutoring -- needless to say, he wants to be part of this great business where, to quote him, demand outstrips supply by a huge margin and the business is cash-flow negative.
To understand why for-profit is so important, you must understand Educomp's model for bricks and mortar. The school should be run by a not-for-profit trust, that's the legislation. So even though the trust operates the school, Educomp is a vendor to the trust. Educomp buys the land and creates the building (in a new school), provides the course material and so on and then charges the trust for its service. The trust gets to retain its profit, but Educomp has created an enterprise model through which it is able to gain as an education seller -- it then uses this profit to catch the attention of investors and keep their model going. Obviously, a for-profit model where shareholders can invest directly is an improved one, but precisely wrong with the not-for-profit one, I ask. Prior to answering, Prakash points away that although the trust model doesn't pay any taxation, his model converts this into a for-tax model since Educomp pays taxation on the income it earns as an education service agency to the trust. That important clarification away of the way, Prakash says there's no problem with the existing not-for-profit model, provided you avoid want to expand fast. The bucks lies with the trust, and that's it. If, one the other side of the or maybe hand, you want to expand, you need fairness funding... only for-profit can deliver that. We have a discussion on endeavor capitalists (VCs) that basically fit to print here, none of which, Prakash insists, applies to his VC who brings a lot of ideas to the table and also understands business.
Which in turn brings us to Sibal. Isn't it foolish to abolish the Class 15, and eventually class doze, boards since the panels provide a neutral way in which to understand a student's ability; if the tension over the Class 12 board is to be replaced with the strain over a school entry exam, what's the difference? Since I'm knowing for sure I'm right, Prakash states that in case you accept the argument that Sibal is getting a few things wrong, the important thing is that he could be moving in an area where policy has been fixed for many years. You mean it's like adding a spec of dirt and grime in an oyster, the shake-up it causes produces a pearl? Exactly, Prakash seizes after that. Nevertheless why have regulators, why not let parents and students decide which school/college is the best, We persist. I mock Sibal's latest decide to set up 2, 500 schools on a public-private-partnership (PPP) most basic which are to be regulated by the federal government -- another layer of bureaucracy!
Yes, and no. Obviously choice is important, states Prakash, but schools/colleges, like ISB, are free to make the decision if they want to align to some standard. Aligning to a CBSE, or even an AICTE, allows parents/students to learn they can expect a certain standard, that's all -- yes, if the government said CBSE/AICTE was the only standard and everyone had to keep to it, that would have been problems. Nevertheless surely, prescribing 100 rectangular feet of balcony space outside each classroom, or any such number, as the Delhi government will, I ask, is ridiculous? However, Sheraton prescribes criteria, Prakash counters. The specifications can be changed if they're out of hit, but absolutely nothing wrong with standards or regulations, this individual insists, what's wrong is the licensing that most state governments perform -- you require an "essentiality" certificate before you start and that means the usual palm-greasing.
With all this emphasis on learning, does Prakash still read, considering he fondly recalls his father's big snacks were books? Not much, he admits, struggling to recall the name of the last book this individual read. Perhaps if this individual starts adult education classes? Re-Kindle, so to speak. To be submitted to - yourstory
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