The first brush with computers for many students at the Lanja government school in Maharashtra’s remote Konkan region was when they were handed tablets in October last year. Little did the class V students know that the device they were holding in their palms would soon become a part of their curriculum, perhaps by next academic year.
This was part of WishTel’s - the maker of Ira range of low-cost tablets - pilot of ‘PrithV’, an educational platform that would be launched on January 26.
“There is a lot of educational content out there, on the Internet, Wikipedia and Youtube, and a device was all it required to access it. This is where the tablet comes in,” WishTel Chief Executive Officer Milind Shah said.
A tablet computer or simply tablet, according to Wikipedia, is a primarily a one-piece mobile computer operated by touch (touch screen). In India, tablets are available as cheap as Rs 3,000 a piece and even cheaper on government subsidies.
Perhaps, tablet-maker Datawind may have kicked off a revolution when it launched the world’s cheapest tablet, Aakash, in 2011. The device, priced at Rs 2,250, was subsidised by the government.
"The idea was to bring in affordable devices for computing and Internet access, and bringing in quality education over digital platforms. It is just a matter of time before all schools and institutions, including engineering colleges and premier management schools, replace books with tablets,” Datawind Chief Executive Officer Suneet Singh Tuli said.
There are 220 million students in the country, which itself is both an opportunity and encouragement for tablet makers, Tuli said, adding that tablets are also for entertainment.
ENGANGING, INTERESTING
“The tablet is a device that can be used for both education and entertainment. The advent of tablets, which is the need of the hour, would make education more engaging and interesting, and I certainly believe this is moving classrooms to homes,” HCL Infosystems Executive Vice President (Marketing, Strategy and Corporate Development) Rothin Bhattacharyya said.
In December 2012, HCL Learning launched MyEduWorld, an interactive learning product, in tablet and a drive (dongle) form. The company, the education and learning division of HCL Infosystems, is already providing the content to about 20,000 schools.
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg… Now, this should be extended to rural areas. We certainly need governmental intervention, either to subsidise tablets or make content cheaper, especially for the rural areas, or we will be perpetuating what we call the digital divide,” Bhattacharyya said.
DIGITIAL CONTENT
The educational content available on tablets is enormous. For example, the Linux-based educational platform PrithV has content ranging from pre-primary to class XII and for higher education such as medicine and engineering among others.
Similarly, MyEduWorld has mapped school curriculum from KG to 12, more than 6,000 2D-3D animations, more than 25,000 solved examples and 15,000 quizzes. Aakash has several applications for engineering students including 3D Modelling, C++ programming, remote and collaborative training applications, robotic control and live assessment tools among others.
“Student market is the biggest for the tablet segment, not only in India but anywhere in the world,” Shripal Gandhi, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Swipe Telecom said.
More than half of India’s population of about 1.2 billion people are below the age of 25 years.
Samsung with a 23.9 per cent market share is the leading player in Indian tablet space, followed by Micromax (15.3 per cent) and Datawind (12.3 per cent). About 1.1 million pieces were sold in July-September quarter, with close to 135 vendors launching tablets till end of the quarter, according to a report by IT and technology intelligence firm CyberMedia Research.
TABLETS V/S MULTIMEDIA
But how are tablets better than multimedia education?
“For one, it uses the Kinesthetic method (learning takes place with the student carrying out a physical activity), then there is the visual spatial intelligence and more importantly, it helps a student to step out of the realm of the classroom,” Gandhi said.
Video interaction with experts (using technologies like Skype), digitalised notes and progress cards on demands are among others that will go long way in furthering education, he added.
“This is the year of the tablets… The penetration of 3G services – with a host of companies expected to launch services this year - would also help the tablet market, while 4G is a little too far way,” WishTel’s Shah said.
Tablets would be next wave for education in the country, Datawind’s Tuli said, adding, “I think in the next 5-6 years, every student will have a tablet”. This technology could be the giant leap the country’s education sector needs.