Aakash to invest Rs 100 crore to rebuild Aakash Digital in two years

Test preparatory steadfast Aakash Educational Services plans to put astir Rs 100 crore successful rebuilding and scaling up its edtech portion Aakash Digital aft it has travel retired of the power of beleaguered edtech institution BYJU'S, managing manager and CEO Deepak Mehrotra said.

In an interrogation to PTI, Mehrotra said that arsenic portion of Aakash 2.0 journey, the institution volition standard up Aakash Digital classrooms to cater to students crossed the state including successful those areas wherever it is not feasible to acceptable up carnal rooms.

"We person brought the Aakash Digital Program backmost nether Aakash, we are gathering connected it and investing heavily. We judge that implicit the adjacent 18 to 24 months, we volition beryllium spending adjacent to Rs 100 crore connected gathering this programme -- investing successful technology, content, teacher capabilities, and delivery.

This concern volition spell into the Aakash Digital Classroom Program," Mehrotra said. BYJU's had acquired a bulk involvement successful Aakash Educational Services (AESL) successful April 2021 but owed to fiscal occupation astatine the company, BYJU'S had to merchantability a important involvement successful Aakash to Manipal Group president Ranjan Pai.

With the involvement merchantability to Pai, AESL is nary longer a subsidiary of Think and Learn, the proprietor of the BYJU's brand. BYJU's astatine contiguous holds astir 26 per cent involvement successful AESL.

Mehrotra said that AESL volition connection everything successful the Aakash Digital Classroom it offers successful carnal classrooms. "This year, we restarted Aakash Digital nether Aakash. We person much than 10,000 students this year. Until past year, those enrolled successful this programme were BYJU's students, not Aakash students," helium said.

Mehrotra said AESL gets precocious engagement of students due to the fact that the fig of students per people is constricted to 70 to 80 and truthful teachers are capable to negociate the students effectively.

"The student-teacher ratio is simply a cardinal facet of Aakash's philosophy. Even today, we person adjacent to 80 to 100 module members operating, and this fig volition evidently summation dramatically arsenic we effort to standard the fig of Aakash Digital students.

Our aspiration is to scope astir 1 lakh students implicit the adjacent 2 years," Mehrotra said. He said that fewer teachers from BYJU's person been retained for Aakash Digital but astir of the teachers person been deployed by AESL.

AESL has besides absorbed astir 250 income professionals who were moving with BYJU's. At contiguous AESL has astir 4 lakh learners successful its full system. Mehrotra said that the trial preparatory steadfast aspires to instrumentality the fig to astir a million.

"We person aspirations to turn to astir a cardinal learners. We judge a important chunk -- astir 40 per cent of this ample fig volition travel from the alternate concern models of Aakash Digital,

Aakash Learning Centers, and different models. We are trying to make models that let america to spell deeper into the state and present an engaging learning acquisition to learners," helium said.