Monday 20 June 2011

Former i-banker looks to build the IIT/IIM of K-12 education

Having studied in IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad, Arghya Banerjee was obsessed with top-class education.
But when it came to finding a good school for his daughter, the electrical engineer was at a loss. Most schools didn’t match his expectations. Despite tall claims of providing quality infrastructure, new pedagogies, multimedia, etc, Banerjee observed that several schools, especially the small town ones, still adhered to the learning by rote technique, with little emphasis on debates and discussions, class participation and independent thinking.
Instead of finding fault with the existing schools, Banerjee, who worked as an investment banker with ICICI Securities and later set up an equity research outsourcing firm called Irevna which was acquired by credit rating agency Crisil in 2004, decided to dive into the education field.
He decided to design the methodologies and teaching techniques he felt would help extract the best from each child.
Banerjee wanted to set up the IIT/IIM of kindergarten-class 12 (K-12) education, which would be a limited set of schools focused on delivering knowledge through learning.
Pooling his savings and some bank debt, he set up a K-12 school in his hometown Suri, about 200km from Kolkata.
“Kids from towns like Suri are at a disadvantage due to unavailability of good schools. They need a level-playing field to hone their potential and get on par with metro kids,” he says.
Levelfield School, which Banerjee started from academic year 2010 with 75 students, aims to improve the English speaking skills of kids along with getting them out of the rote learning method and encouraging them to develop problem solving abilities.
“Out teaching methods are different. We believe in spreading knowledge through stories and cinema which can encourage independent thinking and to come up with solutions. The school will follow the CBSE curriculum but teaching methodology will be devised by us,” says Banerjee.
He says instead of going for experienced teachers who come with a pre-established mindset and teaching methodology, he recruits fresh graduates with a passion for teaching, who can be trained to impart new techniques.
Banerjee has an ambitious plan of setting up 10 schools in the next five years in places like Santiniketan, Andal and other district towns with populations of 200,000-500,000.
About Rs2 crore is needed for the infrastructure, building and operational expenses of each school.
Banerjee says social investors are showing interest in Levelfield and the discussions will be taken forward.
The time Banerjee has chosen to enter the K-12 space, which makes up 60% of the education sector in India, could not have been more apt.
Firms including Educomp and Everonn are looking at setting up 150 and 350 K-12 schools respectively, in district towns like Amravati, Anantnag, Motihari, Tuticorin, Khamman, Faridabad, Ferozpur and Ramgarh in the next few years.
Kota-based Career Point Infosystems, which provides tutoring for IIT-JEE, is also establishing K-12 schools in Tier II and III towns in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Like these players, Banerjee, too, is of the opinion that the education ocean is way too deep to accommodate fish of all sizes.
Consulting firm Technopak estimates that from $40 billion in 2008 the education sector in India will touch $115 billion by 2018.
“The opportunity is big especially in small towns where I plan to operate. Despite there being so many players, there is room for many more,” says Banerjee.

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