This EdTech start-up helps parents choose the best schools for their children online

Edunify helps schools connect to prospective parents online and enables them to select the best-fitted school for their children
Uniform application| Pic: Edunify
Uniform application| Pic: Edunify

While parents across the country have been worried and uncertain about their child's future, Edunify, a Lucknow-based EdTech start-up is helping them and several schools navigate through the admission process using their online platform Uniform Application amidst the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Founded in 2018 by Ashoka University alumnus Harsh Karamchandani along with his co-founders Mohammad Yousuf and Haroon Beg, Edunify parents connect with schools online and enables them to select the best-fitted school for their children. And it is completely free of cost for parents.

The Uniform Application acts as a matchmaker between the two. "Every month more than three lakh parents come to our platform to find the best schools for their children from across the country. We have listed information of about 1.2 lakh schools on our website. Parents then put in their enquiries or apply for admission. We connect these parents to our partner schools in the cities we are operating in, depending upon which school fits their children the best," explains Harsh.


How does it work?
A prospective parent has to visit the website (www.edunify.in) and put in an enquiry regarding the school and the admission procedure. Questions like which class, which city, which board, budget, hostel, day school, coed/all boys, all girls are asked and based on that Edunify's admission counselling team analyses and then calls these parents in order to verify the enquiry. "Using our intelligent matching algorithm, the system automatically finds the best schools depending on the preferences. We let the parents know and then we send the enquiries to the partner schools, who then get directly in touch with parents," adds Harsh.

The entire admission procedure can also be done online through the Edunify platform. An option is provided to the partner schools that they can conduct the admission online, including filling of forms, interviews, entrance exams and more. "Once selected our platform will send a notification stating the same. Some schools also accept fees through Edunify's platform — it is up to the schools to choose if they want the end-to-end process or just parts of it. We partner with schools so we have different models on the basis of which we charge schools. The revenue comes in from there," says Harsh.

During the pandemic, there was a lot of confusion in terms of the admission process, Edunify helped their partner schools by taking up the entire process online — counselling was also conducted for parents who were uncertain about their child's future. "During the COVID-19 lockdown, we helped both parents and schools navigate the admission process. Schools couldn't take applications offline so they did that through our platform online. We facilitated admissions worth 4.5 Crores by connecting parents with the right schools online through our platform."

Using the platform, schools across India can reduce the time and effort involved in the admissions process and increase visibility. Back in 2017, the founders had started another venture while in college to help SMEs and schools in Lucknow and other Tier 2 and 3 cities. They helped them in filing GST returns and manage their accounts and administrative functions, something that a lot of businesses were struggling with at that point in time with the introduction of GST in India. While working with schools, they got to witness the problems firsthand, especially with the admission process. "In October 2018, we spoke to schools, parents, to understand the pain points, in January 2019 we launched the platform Uniform Application (uniformapp.in). It was initially conceptualised as a scalable and straightforward solution to these problems," says Harsh. The founders were still in college then and received ample amount of support from their colleges.

Apart from Lucknow, Edunify today has a presence in seven major cities in India, including Delhi, Hyderabad, Noida, Gurugram, Sitapur and Dehradun. The team now has over 15 members who work relentlessly to provide the best services to their partner schools and parents.

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