One of Byju’s USPs was that not only would they provide a complete curriculum, they would also give the children a tablet so they would be able to use it in order to access all the educational materials, including the notes and videos that they provided. And this was quite cool, because tablets were new and most kids did not have their own digital learning device. And because videos are quite flashy, they were extremely happy to use this—this was far better than reading a boring textbook or attending lectures in school!
Parents also felt very virtuous because they thought that now that they would be able to give their kids a dedicated digital device to help them learn, their kids would be able to get a world-class education. Most lower-class and middle-class parents have always felt that the school that they were sending their kids to was never as good as a private brand-name school, which means their kids would always be at a disadvantage because the teachers weren’t good and the subjects weren’t taught clearly. Whereas the flashy video lectures which Byju’s offered—especially when they were being sold by an ambassador like Shah Rukh Khan—were extremely seductive! They felt that this combination of a digital device along with preloaded video lectures would help their kids become smart learners, and they would end up doing well in school. But we all know how this turned out!
Not only are the video lectures mediocre, but far better lectures and videos are available for free on many other sites, such as www.khanacademy.org, www.learnohub.com, www.magnetbrains.com, www.beyondexams.org, and www.missiongyan.com. Also, Byju’s was extremely expensive, and many families got trapped in educational debt in order to buy these “educational devices”. The salesmen (who called themselves “mentors”) were very aggressive and would lie through their teeth in order to close a sale. They would offer EMIs on easy terms, lots of academic support, and also promise to provide refunds if parents weren’t happy. However, when the parents tried to claim a refund after they got disillusioned, they disappeared and refused to answer calls or take any responsibility, which means the kids were stuck with an obsolete tablet with no support.
Byju’s got a huge fillip during the COVID days because parents were desperate to make sure that their kids didn’t lag behind since schools were closed, and they believed Byju’s tablets and the model of online learning were a godsend. The tragedy is that most of Byju’s revenue came from selling the tablets, and this hardware was already obsolete! But it took a long time for parents to wake up and realise that they were being taken for a ride because Byju’s actively silenced critics and refused to let their voice of truth be heard.
The good news is that we’ve learned a lot since those days, and parents now have a much better digital learning device in the form of a Selligion PC. Not only is this a full-fledged PC (and not just a tablet), but it also comes with a headphone, a webcam, a mouse, a keyboard, and a monitor. What makes it really special is that it has its own OS, which means we can keep on updating the content over the air—all the user really requires is an internet connection—and even a low-speed connection works fine because it’s been engineered to work for Indian conditions. Thanks to the Selligion PC, the student now has access to the world’s best online educational resources because they aren’t locked into using the proprietary curriculum that Byju’s used to provide on their SIM card. You can learn more about our PC at www.selligion.com.
They are free to access whatever they want because we’re not selling them content; we are providing them with a tool to explore the world of online learning resources! They can explore whatever content they want for themselves, and because it’s a proper PC, not only can they learn academic subjects by themselves, but they can also do lots of additional things, such as learn English using Duolingo, play games, explore social media, or learn to code—invaluable digital skills for the new world.
Because the PC is made in Bharat and for Bharat, these kids now have access to world-class educational resources using world-class, affordable software and hardware. We think this is going to be a game-changer for Indian education and would love your feedback. These Selligion PCs power the www.apnipathshala.org community-based learning pods we run across the country, and we have been extremely happy with the results. We would like your feedback to help us improve this even further so that Indian kids aren’t left behind by the rest of the world.
Get yourself your own PC set at just a low cost of Rs. 10k. Click here to buy!