How 10-minute tutorials are making quality education available in India's small towns

A cost-effective model of online learning that uses 10-minute, video-recorded tutorials to offer self-learning in 22 Indian languages is looking to expand further in India. After success in covering more than 10 million students in 8,000 colleges, the initiative will now be expanded by EduPyramids Educational Services Pvt. Ltd., a startup incubated at SINE, IIT Bombay.

Initiated by Professor Kannan M Moudgalya, one of the core faculty professors at IIT Bombay, EduPyramids is a spin-off of the on-campus Spoken Tutorial that began a decade back. With its tutorials as lightweight as they are convenient to view offline on a basic Rs 10,000 computer, EduPyramids has already started filling the digital learning divide, particularly in rural and disadvantaged regions.

"Our philosophy is simple," Professor Moudgalya said. "We build for the student who is learning at midnight, sitting by herself, with no friend and no teacher to guide her. If it benefits her, it benefits everyone."

The effect has been extensive. During the time of COVID-19, when connectivity rendered many platforms inoperative, Spoken Tutorials continued on course even in low-bandwidth areas like Jammu and Kashmir. The content has improved employability for thousands of students.

One of such success stories is Nikita Mhatre, a Polytechnic graduate in Computer Science, who used the tutorials to learn PHP and find an IT job and even landed a job at IBM as a SAP expert.

The project has also had a remarkable bearing on healthcare. Nearly a lakh ASHA and Anganwadi workers were trained using Spoken Tutorials to monitor infant nutrition, with many of them reporting daily growth in weight among babies that was nearly double the national average.

In the years to come, EduPyramids plans to grow even bigger by supporting nascent training missions within India. "We want all students, whether in a small-town polytechnic or a rural Anganwadi, to enjoy the same quality of learning as an IIT student," Professor Moudgalya said. "Our dream is to have a world-class education system, not just for India, but for the world."

The model's validity has been proven all over the world. In 2024, IEEE P2955 standard officially ratified Spoken Tutorial pedagogy, referred to as a gold standard in scalable inclusive digital learning.

Personal background has also impacted Professor Moudgalya's mission. Born and bred in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, in an economically deprived family,he for the IIT entrance exam, and he later went on to graduate from IIT Madras and Rice University before returning to India. "I had vowed to my mother that I would come back," he stated. "And I felt as though I owed something to this country which gave me a world-class education at almost no cost."