New Delhi: With the education and learning field emerging as a big opportunity, the new age Edutech companies are leaving no stone unturned to capture the hitherto not so active sector. The ongoing fight between India’s two big Edutech companies Allen and Unacademy has brought to the fore the potential of the sector. The corporate fight being played out with Kota in Rajasthan as the turf is bound to get more and more aggressive in the whole country in the coming days as they try to capture the market.
The Allen Career Institute (ACI), which has a number of coaching centers that impart coaching for various competitive examinations, has forayed into online coaching in direct competition with Unacademy – another Edutech company that has a greater share in online coaching. On the other hand, Unacademy has also forayed into physical centers In Kota that will impart offline coaching. Edutech company Unacademy has launched two offline learning centres in Rajasthan’s Kota – a move that could lead to opening of more centers across the country. It has already established its first flagship centre in Delhi. There are plans that Unacademy will open 100 to 200 physical institutes across the country in phases. The centres will provide offline classes in the NEET-UG, IT JEE and Foundation (9-12) course categories.
Another entrant to the field is BYJU’s which is slowly emerging as a serious threat to the other players. BYJU’S has already opened offline tuition centres. With the heat increasing the poaching of experienced faculties has also already started. Allen has warned its teaching staff that of leaving the institute and moving to the other offline coaching centres will mean that they will be blacklisted forever.
The move comes just when a number of teachers associated with Allen for long quit to join the rival Unacademy. Unacademy has the money power to attract the best faculties and it is reportedly giving good compensations compared to Allen.
As a tit for tat action, Allen Career Institute has opened its own digital education arm to counter Unacademy. Taking on Edutech platforms like Unacademy which are poaching its teachers, Allen announced to foray into the online Edutech space. Allen Career Institute has launched its maiden digital arm, Allen Digital Pvt. Ltd, and according to its Managing Director Anand Maheshwari, they felt the need to extend services to more students who are not in a position to relocate to avail its physical tuition centres. With the launch of Allen Digital, the group is eying to expand its roots beyond 40 cities in India.
“Additionally, the ubiquity of digital will allow us to achieve scale at a faster rate without having to compromise on the quality of teaching,” Anand Maheshwari said in a statement. The company has pioneered coaching for entrance examinations such as JEE (advanced and main) and NEET (UG) and now aims to improve learning outcomes for students in India and beyond through the new digital venture. The move comes as edtech platforms like BYJU’S and Unacademy have forayed into physical coaching centres nation-wide.
Unacademy, which recently laid off more than 600 employees in the funding winter, is opening a coaching centre in Kota and has reportedly hired several teachers from Allen institute.
Allen Career Institute’s co-founder and Chairman-designate, Brajesh Maheshwari, this month announced to take strict action against teachers who leave the institute and join rival Edutech platforms. Allen Digital will enable students throughout their preparation by providing mentor support, online and offline support, career counselling and psychological counselling. Additionally, the institute will also provide a curated range of non-science courses in short-term, long-term, workshops, and crash course formats.