Education Technology | Innovations and Insights - Edinbox

In a turn of events in India's education technology industry, Jio Platforms Limited (JPL), the digital play of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), will completely integrate Embibe, its majority-owned edtech firm, into its fold. RIL had bought 72.69% in Embibe for up to $180 million all the way back in 2018. Under the cover of Reliance now, RIL is establishing the platform on the path of national level of influence.

Founded in 2012, Embibe is a pioneer of AI-based, customized student learning solutions for learners of all strata of the K–12 student population. Embibe's cutting-edge data analytics helps give individualized scholarly guidance and mentorship to drive students more passionately and improve results. Through this milestone merger, Jio intends to leverage the power of Embibe to make its vision for transforming access to education and its equity in India a reality.

Embibe Founder and CEO Aditi Avasthi announced the transition in a LinkedIn post, describing it as a “graduation” for the company. “We’ve officially graduated,” she wrote, highlighting that Embibe is now part of India’s largest digital distribution platform. She added that this move will allow the company to deliver results-driven learning experiences to every corner of the nation.

This strategic acquisition occurs as India's edtech space is itself undergoing a shift—coming out of the pandemic-driven exponential growth cycle towards a trajectory of sustainable growth and operational optimization. The acquisition also fits into Jio's larger aspiration to be taken seriously as a digital player in education.

Whereas a section of Embibe staff will become integrated into Jio's large pool of employees, it has been reported that there will be some staff cuts in this exercise. However, with no change in Embibe's mission and fresh resources available, the platform will be able to scale its offerings better than ever.

This is a brave step ahead for edtech in India—a step where scalability, innovation, and personalized learning converge under the shade of a tech behemoth.

As education is transformed into a hyper-personalized, technology-enabled experience, the edtech sector stands at the confluence of demand and disruption. No longer relegated to elitist urbanism or test-prep monopolies, edtech is transforming the very concept of learning in India and elsewhere. With the Indian edtech industry now worth ₹64,875 crore (US$7.5 billion) and set to grow to ₹2,50,850 crore (US$29 billion) by 2030, the industry is not just expanding—it's evolving. This trajectory, driven by shifting middle-class aspirations, a growing digital world of 971 million internet subscribers, and the rising demand for future-proof skills, is part of a broader reimagining of education. It's not necessarily about apps instead of classrooms—it's about thinking differently about what it even means to be "educated" when knowledge will be outdated every few years.

Skill-first Learning

Perhaps the most absolute of the trends is the rise of skill-based education. The old degree-hubris model is being replaced by a competency-first model where employability is valued over academic fame. As per Nasscom, 150 million Indians—half of today's workforce—must be reskilled or upskilled by the year 2025 in order to remain industry-relevant. To counter the above, edtech platforms are providing courses in Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, AWS & Cloud, and even Ethical Hacking on a large scale. These micro-credentialed courses are now no longer peripheral—they are at the forefront of career creation.

Immersive Classrooms

The convergence of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the face of pedagogy. Career Technical Education (CTE), traditionally the sole preserve of rote training, is being reimagined with simulation learning. Students are now able to access virtual laboratories, drive advanced machinery, or go back in time to historical settings—all without leaving the confines of their home. AI-driven mentors personalize learning sequences, detect knowledge gaps, and recommend real-time interventions. These experiential technologies not only captivate learning—they democratize Tier II and Tier III city access to experiential learning.

Affordable Personalisation

Those were the days when edtech was all about urban elite cohorts. With India's increasing internet penetration and crashing data prices, edtech platforms now personalize learning experiences for regional languages, socio-economic segments, and individual learning velocities. Machine learning and AI facilitate adaptive tests, and lesson plans are tailored by predictive analytics. All this degree of specificity in learner profiles has made learning inclusive, personalized, and responsive, particularly in Bharat's heartland, where there are high aspirations and limited resources. Global Curriculum

Global Curriculum Localised 

Localisation of global education standards is another important trend.

Indian edtech companies are collaborating with international universities and certification agencies to map course content against international standards. In doing so, they are Indianizing this content in a manner that it does not dilute quality but remains connected to local context. This dual strategy addresses the growing number of students looking to benefit from global opportunities without losing the local context. With edtech in India projected to add 0.4% to GDP by 2029, the industry is not just augmenting education—it's revolutionizing it.

It has been a year since the education department brought basic coding, computational thinking, and artificial intelligence (AI) into the curriculum of UP state-government junior high schools (Parishadiya Vidyalayas), and teachers assert that it has been a challenging job to impart technology-based education with the "shortage of computers and lack of proper training for them.".

The idea of technology-based education was floated by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) two years back. Subjects such as coding and AI were included in the science syllabus books of classes 6 to 8 in more than 45,000 schools last year to help more than 50 lakh students.

The move was designed to close the gap between the government schools and the private ones. But it is turning out to be challenging for students who have barely set their eyes on computers. Science teachers in schools bemoan that they are teaching computers without possessing a machine in their institutions.

One of the instructors in Lucknow, who did his Master's in physics, opined: "A mere five-day training course cannot offer us detailed know-how on prime subjects like coding, python and AI."

One other teacher in Mohanlalganj bemoaned: "We are among a few such schools, which don't even have a single computer.we were teaching the children by telling them to visualize a computer. When students inquire about computers, we inform them that whenever they go to a bank or to a railway station, they may see individuals sitting on something and typing on it, which is a computer. How can we even teach these children how to use software.

The training was provided to science teachers by the SCERT in association with some of the top institutions. "The training is a continuous process, and will be held as and when needed," said Ganesh Kumar, director, SCERT.

According to the SCERT books, the students of Class 6 are learning – Computer, MS Paint, MS Word 2016, Step-thinking, Scratch, Python and Intelligence. Chapters covered in Class 7 are – Computer, MS Word, MS Excel, Critical Thinking, computational thinking, Python Tokens and Artificial Intelligence. In addition, students of Class 8 are learning Networking, Cyber Security, MS Word, MS Excel, Coding using Scratch, User Input in Python and Artificial Intelligence.

Provincial president, Prathamik Shikshak Prashikshit Snatak Association UP, Vinay Kumar Singh stated that many government schools don't have computers.

"The introduction of chapters related to computers is an extra workload for teachers. When authorities compel them to deliver these lessons according to a five-day training, it would never have a constructive effect on the learning aspects of students.". When students were forced to try questions based on these subjects last year, they were unable to because even their instructors were not trained on the topic. The subjects may appear great on paper, but the course will only work when all the schools have operational computers, and concurrently, there are new appointments of trained computer teachers. This is the only way students will become digitally literate," Singh stated.

The director of SCERT said additions to the syllabus have been made according to the need of the times. "Though all 45,000 junior high schools have computers, 28,000 of these also have interactive panels. "

India has more than 1 crore students graduating annually. Yet, employability is a significant issue. The 2025 Mercer-Mettl Employability Report states that merely 42.6% of Indian graduates are considered employable—a significant dip from 44.3% in 2023. This indicates an increasing gap between academic education and the fast-changing needs of the job market.

In the high-speed, technology-based economy of the present day, employers place less emphasis on degrees and more on proven abilities. Particularly in technology-first industries, job seekers with experiential knowledge in new technologies like AI, cloud computing, data science, and cybersecurity are sought after.

The silver lining: Undergrads don't need to wait until graduation to become job-ready. A number of reputable, affordable, and effective tech skilling programs now parallel college coursework—enabling students to graduate with not only a degree, but a job-market advantage.

Below are four impressive programs that enable undergraduates to skill up during their college experience:

IBM SkillsBuild is a well-known skilling platform globally that provides expert-curated, career-relevant learning pathways. It includes key tech areas such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, and cybersecurity, with content developed by industry experts.

• Students receive digital badges and certificates that are employer-recognized globally.
• Project-based virtual internships allow real-world application of skills.
• Exclusive partnerships with NGOs and universities enable wider reach, especially for students from underrepresented or economically weaker sections.

IBM SkillsBuild is perfect for self-directed students seeking flexible, high-quality tech education with real-world outcomes.

The gNIIT program is structured as a dual-qualification model, allowing students to learn in-demand digital skills in addition to their academic degree. What sets it apart is its modular, stack-based learning that reflects the way tech jobs work in the real world.

• Features a six-month compulsory internship that provides students with meaningful work experience prior to graduation.
• Especially designed for students from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, with a completely online delivery mode that eliminates the necessity of relocation.
• Courses are co-designed with industry experts, making the curriculum contemporary and future-proof.
• Available to students from all streams of study—science, commerce, and arts—providing them with an avenue to wider, better career prospects.

Every student is provided with an individualized learning path so that they become proficient in core competencies and remain focused on their career aspirations.

A collaborative effort of AICTE and NASSCOM, these virtual internships connect the dots between theory and application. Students gain exposure to practical industry problems, frequently mentored by professionals working in leading technology companies.

• Emphasis on applied learning through guided projects and certifications.
• Ideally suited for students who wish to develop a portfolio showcasing their skills to prospective employers.
• Often has collaborations with government-supported projects and international technology companies.

This program is a great choice for students who wish to enhance their theoretical learning with industry context through mentored virtual experiences.

TCS iON's Career Edge is a microlearning program that addresses holistic employability. Though it has technical modules, it also focuses on the equally essential professional skills necessary to succeed in today's workplace.

• Provides bite-sized modules on agile methodologies, digital fluency, and workplace communication.
• Provides virtual internship simulations that simulate actual job situations, facilitating students' smooth transition into professional careers.
• Crafted specifically for debut job candidates, providing them a comprehensive ready for interviews and business expectations.

Career Edge suits the last year's students who intend to sharpen professional image together with essential technical know-how.

The future of work has arrived—and it calls for active, skill-first learning. By pursuing one or more of these programs in college, students can significantly improve their employability and industry readiness. Whether a foundational badge from IBM, a virtual internship through AICTE, or full-on career training through gNIIT or TCS iON, the main thing is to begin early and persist.

Upskill now, and graduate with confidence.

India's edtech industry is booming, fuelled by AI breakthroughs as the government underinvests. Startups such as SuperKalam and Bhanzu take the lead in AI-enabled test preparation and maths education, whetting a prospect of greater affordability and quality of education.

India's education industry has witnessed robust innovation in recent years. Almost 85% of students credit better learning outcomes to edtech platforms in India, as revealed in an Internet & Mobile Association Of India (IMAI) report entitled, Impact Study Of Edtechs In India: Driving Innovation & Creating Opportunities.

Factors such as compelling content and quality educational resources are driving edtech demand within the nation, but it doesn't stop there. The development of artificial intelligence has taken over most of the conversations, and education hasn't been left out.

This has encouraged various startups to throw their hat in the ring and capitalize while the iron is hot.

One such startup is SuperKalam, which offers AI-driven test preparation solutions for civil services examination aspirants. 

"We are not reliant on humans for resolving doubts, evaluating multiple choice questions or creating content. By eliminating humans as a variable, we are making the whole learning experience infinitely scalable," says Vimal Rathore, co-founder, SuperKalam.

The company has one instructor for every 1.7 lakh aspirants, providing personalized coaching. Almost 5 million aspirants sit for civil services entrance exams in India, and SuperKalam claims to be witnessing a surge in registrations despite monetizing its services in June 2024.

Cashing in on an Underfunding Crisis

India's Edtechs also thrive in the face of inadequate government funding for the education sector. PRS Legislative Research data indicate that Union Budgetary allocation to education has fallen steadily with a slight increase in 2023-24.

While government expenditures on education remain mostly static, the quality of teachers has become a cause of concern as well. According to the Ministry of Education's report for 2023-24, 48% of the teachers at pre-primary levels remain unqualified and 12% of teachers across primary to secondary levels are professionally untrained. The majority of edtechs are focused on upskilling, but the situation today is indicative of an acute need to overhaul the infrastructure of education.

While Union Budgets in the past focused on building more infrastructure for top education institutions, primary education — basis of students — does not gain much attention. In addition to that, the pandemic further degraded K12 education among students in India and across the world.

One of the startups showing great progress in mathematics education is Bhanzu, which originated as a pandemic-era Telangana government venture. The site specializes in the development of mathematics skills in kids aged between 5 and 12 years old.

Neelkanth Bhanu, co-founder of Bhanzu, states, "We teach core math through our own pedagogy, which accelerates a child's arithmetic speed 4x, making them perform exceptionally well at school and use math in the world around them."

Since its launch, Bhanu states that the platform has expanded to 55,000 active students, with almost 40% of them being from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East. Online learning is just as effective as offline classes. We get to have children from all over the world interact. I believe cosmopolitan exposure is typically lost in offline setups," states Bhanu.

Demand For Personalised Learning Experiences

The explosion of edtech startups in India is a big representation of the status of the education industry in the country, with the startups vying to bridge the gap caused by a shortage of qualified teachers. 

Having dealt with education sector startups before, SuperKalam's Rathore had knowledge of the gap competitive exam aspirants had. This drove the company's emphasis on individualized guidance for test modules and achieving monthly targets.

SuperKalam has created a "nudge-based system" for each individual over the years. More remarkable is that the company created this AI-driven system with a small team of individuals. The website has two human teachers, Rathore and Arpita Sharma.

"I mentor students at SuperKalam on how to set their daily goals and be disciplined and consistent. They will typically face various types of distractions, so I mentor them on how to have a sense of discipline for a minimum of 4-5 hours daily. I also give them empathetic, mental and emotional support," says Sharma.

Investors such as Y Combinator have bet on SuperKalam, with seed investor Sparrow Capital full of hopes regarding the progress of the platform.

"Being profitable would have been a worry if Superkalam was a part of some established offline business model. They are attempting to create a technology platform which involves inherent cost savings. our burn has been trivial relative to growth in metrics," says Yash Jain, cofounder of Sparrow Capital.

Making Education Accessible

In 2023-24, the dropout rate from secondary school in India was as high as 10.2%, as per government statistics. It impacts 26% of learners in today's education system.

The current Union Budget this year raised the estimate of expenditure on education by 12.5% (to ₹1.28 lakh crore) compared to last year's revised estimate. Overall, however, taking a broader perspective, data from PRS reveals that education as a percentage of expenditure has experienced a major decline from the 19% it received in 2015-16. Education is a concurrent subject wherein the state and central governments must coordinate.

Programmes like the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, providing funding for education from pre-school to Class 12, heavily depend on state funding. However, in a recent reply in Parliament, the Ministry of Education stated that Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal did not see disbursal of any central funds.

The pandemic may have widened educational disparities, but SuperKalam's AI-driven services and Bhanzu's products are a glimpse of Indian innovations that highlight how technology can make learning more accessible and efficient.

Police on Thursday said they arrested a 31-year-old engineer-turned-thief from Pune, who, enraged by a runaway bill for his Covid-19 treatment in 2021, took revenge on hospitals in Pune, Mumbai and Delhi by stealing costly equipment from them.

Though he made repeated requests for the concession of his bill of ₹20-25 lakh, denials saw him running up debt for the treatment, police added. They added that the accused, Vikas Hagawane, robbed laptops, iPads, iPods, mobiles, jewellery and other items of value from national and international multispecialty hospitals, and was tracked during one such robbery at the oncology department of Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar on April 10.

Police added that they reviewed videos from more than 400 CCTV cameras to track the suspect. "We realized that this individual was residing in a hotel in Paharganj. On the basis of technical surveillance and human intelligence, the accused was apprehended from the hotel," deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Ravi Kumar Singh said.

Hagwane is a computer science engineer from a Pune college, police added. He was in Delhi since April 8 to commit a series of burglaries and was arrested on Monday.

We discovered that he (earlier) had committed thefts at Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj and Max Super Specialty Hospital in Noida. We seized four costly laptops, a mobile, a pair of branded sunglasses and an Apple iPod from him," the DCP added.

Singh stated the accused was under debt and had been "harbouring resentment" against private hospitals since then. Police added that he began looting from hospitals in Pune and Mumbai, and later shifted to Jaipur, Delhi, Noida and Gurugram.

A detective revealed, "To avoid being traced, he went out of his way to avoid using SIM cards, opting instead to run a mobile phone connected solely to hotel Wi-Fi. He would scan major hospitals, study the building layout, and mark areas left unattended by doctors. At the busiest working hours, he would dress as a visitor, enter empty OPDs or staff rooms, and swipe valuable items, including laptops, mobile phones, money, and accessories.

Hagwane also fabricated a bill book to create imitation sales invoices. Prior to his arrival in Delhi, police said he remained in Jaipur for three weeks and targeted several hospitals. Police stated they discovered details of six cases against him in Mumbai and Pune, and are seeking more information from Jaipur Police.