The novel coronavirus has disrupted services and supply chains across the globe, forcing most industries and businesses to rely on technology for coordinating with staff and running their operations.

This outbreak has also caused many educational institutions to suspend attendance, delay examinations and hurriedly search for ways to ensure seamless learning and academic study for their students. 

Given this scenario, educational technology (EdTech) companies and their services have seen a major increase in their usage. Numerous platforms have been launched, re-advertised, upgraded and made even more accessible to the average consumer due to their growing demand in these unprecedented times. From online classes to live doubt-clearing sessions, learning management systems, mobile applications, e-books, tablets and many other learning tools, services are finding more and more customers and the sector is expanding rapidly.

In India, for example, platforms like Bjyu’s, UpGrad, Vedantu, CL Educate, Imarticus Learning, Simplilearn and Toppr have seen a sharp rise in new users. This is due to the rising need for EdTech services as well as incentivization by companies. Bangalore-based Byju’s announced that its students can download their learning program for free until the end of April; since then, there has been a 60% surge in new student registrations on its platforms.

Previously considered a secondary option and at most, a supplement to traditional methods of school learning, EdTech is now fast becoming an essential service and necessity as countries around the world have enforced lockdowns due to COVID-19, leaving millions of students restricted in their homes. 

The ability of EdTech to harness Big Data further adds to its potential in the areas of innovation and teaching practices by being able to learn and evolve quickly, as we have seen in this pandemic.

One has often wondered why in an era of unrestricted information the average education system is still largely focused on memorisation of information and not on comprehension. The information age, born of the internet, changed the game of education forever, but Covid-19 just did what the other could not; it has made people use the brainchild of Tim Berners-Lee as a primary resource for education. 

Hardly anybody would dispute the fact that the education system was headed for a digital revamp anyway. It just appears that the timeline has been brought forward with the emergence of this global pandemic. 

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