The Hindu Business Line : Learning made easy through animation films

Mumbai, May 20 Wouldn’t it be more fun and easy to understand the shape of the fallopian tube through graphics and multiply four apples with two to learn arithmetic? Imagine learning mathematics and science through animation films, rather than textbooks. For students who find it difficult to grasp these subjects, there is relief in sight as the Yash Birla group plans to launch its e-learning programme Vidyopasna, from KG class to 10 in 500 private schools across India this year.

Birla Shloka Edutech Ltd will invest Rs 100 crore over the next five years to take its e-learning programme Classes-on-Demand (for which it has applied for a trademark) forward, Mr Anuj Batra, Chief Executive Officer, told Business Line. The programme is being soft launched and tested in various schools for the past seven years with an initial investment of Rs 12 crore. Now, with synergies in place, the programme will be rolled out to students across States as they return from their summer vacations. The company has received confirmation letters from 33 schools including Gopi Birla Memorial School, Nerul; Tarapur Vidya Mandir; Zenith School, Khopoli; Sree Ji English Medium, Dhule; Ujjwal English School, Jalgaon and N L Dalmia, Mumbai.

The company will invest Rs 25 crore in this financial year and is expecting a profit of around 15 per cent in gross margins. “Though it is a viable business opportunity for us, we realise that profits will be lower initially due to development costs,” said Mr Batra. By next year, the company plans to tie up with 5,000 schools across India to offer this programme.

With an in-house animation team of 60 artists, the company has translated the entire syllabus of the ICSC, CBSC and state boards to animation film form that will be updated every three months as the boards change their syllabi.

Either two monitors or a single plasma screen will be placed next to the blackboard in classrooms and the teacher will play the video as she teaches a particular topic.

“The idea is not to replace the teacher, but to teach effectively so that even the slowest of student understands and retains what is being taught,” said Mr Batra.

There is also a training program for teachers of the schools to equip them with the effective use of the software simultaneously while teaching from a textbook. The company has academicians on its board to advice them on perfecting their systems.

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