Blended learning would become the 'new-normal' in coaching institutes across India, even as students are keen to go back to classrooms to learn.
Manek Daruvala, Founder & Director, Triumphant Institute of Management Education (T.I.M.E.) told Moneycontrol that while students across institutes including theirs were studying online, this won't become a permanent phenomenon.
TIME Institute is among the largest players in the test-preparation space for CAT and other MBA entrance examination. It also offers test-prep for other entrance tests like engineering, bank exams and medical entrance (NEET) among others.
"There is a misconception that now coaching will go completely online. That is not the case. A majority of students still want classroom coaching and are waiting for COVID-19 restrictions to be lifted," he told Moneycontrol.
He explained that the institution that was set up in 1992 has trained more than 20 lakh students since inception. It has trained more than 150,000 students in the last one year for various entrance exams.
The test-prep institute clocked an annual revenue of Rs 300 crore pre-pandemic, which Daruvala said was impacted due to the COVID-19 lockdown. He did not share specific figures.
After the lockdown was announced in the last week of March 2020 due to COVID-19, he explained TIME Institute set up online learning platforms for students.
"For us, it is just like a regular classroom coaching module. The teacher gives classes live and students can study from home. I believe that blended learning will be the future. Students can attend physical classes but will also have access to video lectures and soft copies of study materials," he added.
For fully online courses, the fee charged is lower by 20-25 percent.
Among other large players in this segment, test-prep firm Aakash Educational Services (AESL) had set up a wholly-owned subsidiary, Aakash Edutech (AEPL) for the digital education business in July 2020. The new entity offers an online platform for students to access live test preparation classes and live tuitions with self-study materials.
CRISIL Research said the undergraduate test-preparation coaching industry would accelerate to a size of Rs 39,000 crore in 2020-21. It is estimated that 50-55 percent of this market would constitute NEET and JEE test coaching.