Ed-tech companies bridge the gap between learning and schooling amid coronavirus pandemic

As the world is battling with the novel coronavirus, the education system has come to a halt. Due to the pandemic, which has now spread to about 161 countries, schools and educational institutions around the globe are forced to shut. The decision to close these places was taken by the health organizations to prevent the transmission of the virus amongst people. Since it’s origination in the Wuhan City of China, the COVID-19 virus has infected 174,000 people and claimed more than 6,500 lives.

As per a UNESCO report, education of over 290 million students across 13 countries will be interrupted because of the COVID-19 crisis. With students and professionals stuck at home, quarantined, ed-tech startups are trying their best to put online learning in the spotlight by providing courses free of cost. The virus has prompted educational institutions to start shifting classes online- either for a few weeks or for the remainder of the semester. Edtech startups around the world have now stepped up to these institutions offering their help.

Here is a list of companies who are trying to bridge the gap between learning and schooling, helping students utilize their time.

Unacademy

Indian ed-tech startup Unacademy recently announced that it will conduct free live classes for students across exam categories including UPSC, banking, railways, among others. It has said that it will host over 20,000 free live classes ensuring learner’s education is not obstructed amidst the pandemic.

Unacademy plans to host more than 700 free live classes per day across exam categories. As per the company, this is around three times the usual number of special/free classes they do generally. There is also no limit on the number of students who can join at a time. These classes are not limited to those who already have a subscription with Unacademy and are open to all.

To start with, these classes are being offered until March 31. However, if the situation persists, Unacademy will look at extending these free live classes to April and May as well.

BYJU’S

Indian ed-tech unicorn BYJU’S has recently said it will provide free access to its complete app to school students till April. The company, through a statement, said that students across classes 1-12 can download and access BYJU’S learning programs for free until the end of April.
They can download BYJU’S-The Learning App and Disney BYJU’S Early Learn for free from the Play Store and gain access to the entire library of BYJU’S educational content, the statement said. Students with the pre-installed app (free version) will need to update it in order to access the complete learning content for free.

Extramarks

Global ed-tech company Extramarks has launched the ‘Go-To-School’ initiative. With this initiative, Extramarks will give all students full and free access to the entire Extramarks – The Learning App until April 30, 2020, and to JEE and NEET crash courses, starting March 20 and 23 respectively.

Moreover, this initiative will also allow schools to take live online classes through the Extramarks technology platform anytime, anywhere, for free with added benefits of being able to assign homework and worksheets through the platform.

For full and free access to Extramarks, download the app redeeming the GTS@K12 code, and for the free JEE and NEET crash course, download Extramarks’ JEE/NEET Test Prep app and apply the code GTS@TP during checkout.

LinkedIn

Apart from upgrading its platform to broadcast all news and information about the virus, Linked has also made its 16 LinkedIn Learning courses available for free. These courses include tips on how to: stay productive, build relationships, use virtual meeting tools (Microsoft Teams, Skype, BlueJeans, Cisco Webex and Zoom), and balance family and work dynamics in a healthy way.

Coursera

US-based ed-tech company Coursera has announced that it will provide impacted universities in the world with free access to its 3,800 courses. Universities that sign up can give their enrolled students access to 95% of its catalog which comes from190 partner universities, including Johns Hopkins, the University of Michigan, and Yale, among others. Institutions facing coronavirus disruptions will have free access until July 31, at which time Coursera will offer month-to-month extensions “depending on prevailing risk assessments”.

MOOCs, or massive open online courses, were originally born a decade ago to democratize access to higher education. Students and teachers around the globe rushed headfirst into the world’s largest ed-tech experiment but institutions later grew disappointed as it became clear students did not finish courses. Universities now face a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the world to experiment with MOOCs and the question will be, again, whether they can deliver.