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Anyone can teach a brilliant student who is devoted to study and focused on the path of achievement. But a great teacher is considered to be one who can teach a student who is least interested in studying and arouses interest in him. A good teacher is like a candle it consumes itself to light the way for others. Dalai Lama once said,

“WHEN EDUCATING THE MINDS OF OUR YOUTH WE MUST NOT FORGET TO EDUCATE THEIR HEARTS. “

THE ORIGIN OF A GREAT TEACHER: ALAKH PANDEY

Not every educator icon of India is a dropout of IIT/ IIM. Some start by dropping out of the normal BTECH institute of KANPUR. An educator with a passion and zeal to impart free education, who believed that in India the right to quality education is a basic sanity of every individual. Sir Alakh Pandey after dropping out of college returned to his native town Allahabad ( present name Prayagraj ) Uttar Pradesh and joined a coaching institute. The difference is established by how you deliver your teachings, not what you teach. Alakh Pandey, 's journey as a teacher started when he was in class 6. He used to give tuition to 4th standard students. When he was an 11th-grade student he gave a demo class at a coaching institute. At the end of the class,  students clapped for Alakh. He knew that the path of being an educator was waiting for him. Alakh sir taught Physics for 4 years in brick-and-mortar coaching. The owner of a big, reputed coaching institute witnessed his growth and told him that in the next 10 years,  he would be teaching 5000-6,000 students. Alakh Sir's way of teaching is the most dominating factor that differentiates him from the rest of the teachers. In 2016 he opened his YouTube channel; PHYSICS WALLAH and started uploading his classes across and within 1 year he gained a decent 10,000 subscriber base. In the year 2018,  a friend of Alakh advised him to monetize his channel. That time he received Rs 8000 and decided to leave his brick-and-mortar coaching so that he could focus completely on YouTube to reach more and more students. The Name PhysicsWallah is derived from a famous tea stall Chaiwallah which has a presence in Kanpur, Lucknow,  and Varanasi. The JIO revolution in India was the perfect opportunity for Alakh Pandey, the belief is that online coaching will scale up new heights as internet data is accessible And affordable so that more students can be reached.

When the Corona pandemic hit, Alakh Pandey met his future co-founder Prateek Maheshwari when he was building SaaS products for EdTech companies. The actual launch of the PHYSICS WALLAH app started on 26th May 2020 and the application crashed on the 1st day. The time both Prateek Maheshwari and Alakh Pandey joined hands, the initial TRANSITION TO convince an idealistic mindset teacher was not at all easy. Alakh sir believed education should be free of cost. However,  after the initial failure of the app launch, Alakh Pandey kept continuing his online classes and soon the new revolution kicked off. Slowly more and more online classes started and all over India,  the new methodology of Online teaching via the Edutech App became a smart way of education. At a time 100000 students can attend lectures of any teacher via mobile internet. The vision to create a huge base in both offline and online PW has taught more than 60 lakh students and it employs 1500 people out of which 300 are teachers across 16 coaching centres. Then according to the latest sources on June 20, 2022,   PHYSICS WALLAH entered the offline learning market by opening its first offline facility in KOTA Rajasthan PW VIDYAPEETH, Kota Rajasthan.

JOURNEY OF BEING AN EDUTECH UNICORN

The entire funding initially was done by income from the YouTube channel and in the year 2022 the business funding opportunity. The company got it,s 1st SERIES An investment from Westbridge Capital and GSW ventures. 100 million dollars are raised.

  • THE OPERATIONAL STRATEGY OF PW

The lectures of PW are done both Online as well as offline, and along with that mock exams are conducted for national-level entrance. Physics Wallah makes money from YouTube advertisements and in addition to that optional grants of special paid doubt clearing special sessions for clearing doubts.

  • CHALLENGES FACED:

The initial collapse mishap was well managed by the Tech team of PW. However, in 2021 competitors considered PW as a threat. UNACADEMY offered Alakh Pandey sir a 75 crore package which he turned down. The competitors, backed up by huge financial strength started offering jobs to PW faculties and few left PW. This was a setback for PW as the goodwill was at stake. PW not only teaches Physics but other subjects as well like Chemistry, Biology, and Maths. Teachers who got recognition after working under PW left the platform in greed of a better package to competitors. However Alakh sir did not give up and he continued as students respected him as a teacher, mentor, and guru. His journey did not stop and finally, PW got a unicorn status.

Technology is the biggest weapon to move ahead of its competitors in the modern world. Learning is made simple, easy, and accessible anywhere. As a pre-conceived notion future visionaries might foresee a state of education where students might not carry books in their bags and entire education might turn digital. In the recent Covid scenario, a trial run was executed of the same and it turned out as a super effective mode for both students and teachers.

  • HIGHLIGHTS:

  1. Company: PHYSICS WALLAH
  2. HEADQUARTER: NOIDA, UTTAR PRADESH
  3. INDUSTRY: EDUTECH
  4. FOUNDERS: ALAKH PANDEY, PRATEEK MAHESHWARI
  5. FOUNDED: 2016
  6. COMPANY VALUATION: $1.1+ BILLION ( JUNE 2022)

Prateek Maheshwari is the co-founder of PhycisaWallah, who graduated from IIT Varanasi. Before joining hands with Alakh Pandey Sir Prateek Maheshwari was a founder at NightPanda, Moon2 Noon, PenPencil, and Edu4all.

SUCCESS INFORMATION OF PHYSICS WALLAH

The Physics Wallah family has crossed over 6 Million students and the bar is rising day by day. There has been an increase of 67 percent in the selection ratio as compared to the previous year, 's result of JEE–Advanced. Physics Wallah's top scorers include Apurva Samota AIR -92, MD Sahil Akhtar AIR 99, Shivam Singh Yadav AIR 151, Anubhav Saha AIR 398,  and Suchir Kalra AIR - 507.

EDTECH MARKET IN INDIA: AN INSIDER ANALYSIS

The transformation has begun the way people consume education all across the globe. Learning in today’s date has become flexible, obtainable, and personalized, for students across geographical areas, be it a remote village to a top-class metro city. Learning has become very easy and it is a need of the hour to not only prepare for entrance exams but also acquire new skills for career development.

“ INDIA IS THE 2ND LARGEST MARKET FOR E-LEARNING AFTER THE US “ - CHANDNI NIHALANI, DIRECTOR, PAYPAL.

As discussed before 2020 in the pandemic Indian Edtech startups came into the spotlight. Now the hybrid model of education is a combo of both online and offline. Today we have approximately around 4450 Indian Edtech startups in India that are assisting over 300 million school students across the globe. A strong backup and boost is needed to uplift education in India, INDIAN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT. The government has rolled out several programs to boost the growth of the distance education market and at the same time focusing on e-learning and m- m-learning. Digital revolution in the education sector is quite evident and the government supports improvement in digital infrastructure.

GROWTH DRIVERS:

  • Increase in Online content consumption
  • High penetration of the internet and smart devices.
  • Demand for skilled professionals in the global workforce.

Success Imbibers:

In India, we have a large pool of talented teachers who are experts in Math, Science and this factor is a very strategic advantage for Indian education companies. One important enabler for Indian Edtech is the price leverage. If you check out the courses in the US and the Middle East cost more than 3 times. Moreover, an online postgraduate program by an Indian Edtech firm can be availed at 1/10 the cost of a Master's Degree in the USA. So to come to the focus of the argument, the cost-effectiveness of Indian Edtech firms allows students to remove the paywall barrier from premium educators and middle-class students. At the same time, the virtual mode removes geographical barriers.

Also, digital payment platforms have made it easy to access online education, training, and hassle-free ways of fund transfer. Customer data is protected from fraud and theft. Also,  payment in different currencies is available.

ADVANTAGE WINNERS (ONLINE PREPARATION)

With the major facet of the speed and reach of online preparation classes, traditional classroom sessions are no longer the only option. The major trends include personalized, interactive sessions. In the remotest place in India where an internet connection is available, online classes do occur. People who live in rural areas who cannot afford to move to metro cities. For them the benefits of online classes are extreme. Alakh Pandey Sir decided to go for YouTube tutorials once he saw the same thing while going on a tour in a remote tourist location. He had a motto in his mind to impart quality teaching and guidance to every student in every corner of the country.

5 MAJOR ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE CLASSES:

  1. LEARN AT YOUR OWN PACE: Using online platforms students can learn at their own pace. The student has the freedom to set up a study program as per his requirement and follow that. That is missing in traditional face-to-face teaching where the teacher has to ensure every student will move at the same pace and be on the same page.
  2. HIGH AFFORDABILITY: The most important advantage of online preparatory classes is cost-effectiveness. All of which a student needs is a Smartphone with 5 G internet speed. A student needs to pay a one-time membership fee and avail of all classes at his convenience. Online classes save money on physical transportation costs, food costs, and lodging costs. At the same time under constant supervision of parents to seek emotional support when students are stressed.
  3. FLEXIBLE STUDY HOURS: During traditional business hours educational coaching centre’s set up time and students have to be available at that time to attend the classes. In e-platforms, students are free to learn at their convenience. A student will be free to choose to go through the lectures as per their sleep time.
  4. AMPLE STUDY MATERIAL: In online classes,  the pain of taking notes is not needed as online materials can be repeatedly run as many times as the student can go through. E-books are available as study materials which saves a huge amount of time in preparing them. In online classes,  the effort is entirely on the preparation for the exam, not on manually preparing notes, handwritten notes.
  5. THE FUTURE IS ONLINE COACHING: The reality lies over, students are getting slowly inclined towards hassle-free online coaching and preparation. Even solo tutors are moving into segments of online coaching where students enroll online. The easing of learning coaching is a hassle-free experience for both teachers as well as students and shortly this will change the way education is going to happen.

SHORT ANALYSIS AND DATA TRENDS:

The online education market stands at USD 247 million and the estimated growth is 8 % within the next 5 years and it might reach the 1.96 Billion mark. India has an education system that is multi-layered with 260 million students enrolled in 1.5 million schools. Approx 39000 colleges catering to 27.5 million undergraduates and 4 million postgraduates. The online education market in India is

  • Primary and secondary supplemental education in 73 Million USD and several paid users 1570 Thousand.
  • Test Preparation: 43 Million USD ( total market value ) and number of paid users 196 thousand.
  • Re-skilling and online certification: 93 Million USD ( total market value ) and number of paid users 499 thousand.
  • Higher Education: 33 Million USD ( total market value ) and number of paid users is 55 thousand.
  • Language and casual learning: 5 Million USD ( total market value ) and number of paid users 353 thousand.

The market size in terms of percentage as derived in 2021 when the pandemic was in full swing:

  • TEST PREPARATION: 21%
  • HIGHER EDUCATION: 9%
  • PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATION 39%
  • ONLINE CERTIFICATIONS 23%
  • LANGUAGE AND CASUAL LEARNING 1%

Online educational content is consumed across laptops and mobiles. Mobile phone/smartphone usage is slightly higher among students while working professionals prefer laptops for test preparations. Students use 87% mobiles and 83 percent laptops to study whereas working professionals prefer 66 % mobile and 83 % laptops to consume online courses.

ALAKH PANDEY Sir created a landmark in the history of online education. He had a very clear vision for the future. Education should be fun and interactive and students should enjoy every moment of the content provided. Education is the basic right for every child and in India,  accessibility of quality is a major issue. He wanted to reach every house where education is needed and education is the way to a better life and bright future. Alakh Sir teaches in such a unique way his presentation skills are so much out of the box that he does not teach he demonstrates the laws of physics. Physics is not a subject, a tool for clearing entrance. It is a way of life, the way we live, and the things surrounding us are Physics. He demonstrates practical demonstrations that show how the laws of physics work. Students get their doubts cleared, and concepts smoothly solved. Some of his practical demonstrations are even life risky, but he did those on camera live just to arouse interest in the minds of students so that everyone is a rank holder. When you study you learn, but when you love something you understand this is a subject no one can take away the learning from you because you have developed an attraction for the subject. A student does not feel Physics as a subject, a burden on the head remembering 100 laws, and 200 formulas, for the student,  it is a fun way of life, E = MC*2 is how life is. If you understand how Physics works in your life, you will not have to study and learn by heart. The concept will be embedded in your mind and will stay forever. This is what Alakh Pandey sir wants every Indian Student to understand. India is a country where the Teacher is next to god, Physics wallah Alakh Pandey is not just a god figure in the eyes of his students but he is a mentor for life, a companion of success for his followers. When passion is backed up by talent and zeal legends are created exactly like this. The center of education in India is focused on students. Education is divine worship and teaching is a novel profession. Our culture teaches us to respect our teachers but with the advent of Alakh Pandey Sir the entire education scenario is flowing with a new ideology, how are the students handled in an institution, education learning should be made fun, recreation so that it is never treated as a burden. Education is not a load on children's brains, it is all a matter of concept that is to be processed smoothly and applied as per theory. Alakh Sir has rolled off a journey of inspiration among thousands of teachers who are going online trying to reach thousands of students imparting quality knowledge and education, training for competitive exams. The barrier of distance, time,  and availability is removed and in the future,  digital India will witness digital education where every child, aspirant, and be able to access knowledge anytime anywhere.

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