World-class Khan Academy comes to India
NEW DELHI: Having revolutionised the way schoolkids learn math and science in the US and then the rest of the world, Khan Academy is now all set to enter India. Free online offerings in Hindi will be the academy’s first foray before other languages follow.
Launched by Salman Khan (or Sal Khan), a former hedge fund manager born to a Bangladeshi father and a Bengali mother, Khan Academy is considered by some to be the precursor to so-called massive open online courses (MOOCs). It was born in 2006 when Khan started tutoring his young cousin in math. Since then, Khan has become an iconic figure, as much for the simplicity of the tutorials (and their use of technology) as for the fact that his academy is a non-profit.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, once famously said he used the academy’s videos to teach his children. Fame followed, as did a TED talk.
Khan Academy Hindi will be launched on December 3 in New Delhi with support from Central Square Foundation (CSF), a philanthropy fund focused on education and promoted by Chryscap founder Ashish Dhawan. “After US, Khan Academy sees India as a huge market but not to make profit. We shall provide customised localised high quality content in different languages,” said Sandeep Bapna, India Country Manager of Khan Academy.
“Khan Academy Hindi is part of our collective vision to enable high quality, localised and personalised learning resources to students across India, that can help them master skills at their own pace,” Khan Academy and CSF said in a statement on Monday.
The Khan Academy’s Hindi platform will provide a similar experience to its English platform and cover the syllabus prescribed by the National Council of Education Research and Training for math. The Khan Academy has around 20 million visitors to its site a month —70% from the US. Bapna said in India the Khan Academy could be a big factor in “after school tutoring” and also help improve the competency of teachers.
Over the next six months, the academy would customise around 2,500-3,000 math videos for India and then focus on its “science lab”, Bapna said. Around 250,000 people from India visited the site every month, he added.
The academy would be popular in India, said a consultant. “It will be different from commercial tutoring... but Indians always seek quality content in math and science,” said Kalpesh Banker, managing partner of EduShine Advisory, an education consultancy. That may well mean a disruption in India’s tutorial space. “Branding and acceptance won’t be an issue (for the Khan Academy) but (the availability of) high-speed Internet could,” he said.