EdTech is certainly a crowded space right now but Prateek Reddy Kondapally doesn't necessarily feel this is a deterrent. "After all, look at all the players who have entered the e-commerce industry en masse. They have made each other and the tech better," says the 29-year-old. This is why he let his passion to do something in the field of education grow into what today is Renlight Education. Though the venture started with a learning centre in Pune, in 2018, catering to about 50 kids, they shifted base to Hyderabad during the pandemic and are now working with three government schools, apart from everything else that is on their plate.
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For Renlight Education, digitising education doesn't just mean digitising textbooks, they ensure that with the videos, which they have for students of class VI to X from CBSE and Telangana State Board in the subjects of Science, Social Studies, Math, Finance, Coding and Puzzles, they also have interactive games like labelled graphics, flashcards and sorting activities to ensure that kids do not zone out during the video. They have dubbed these as interactive widgets. But this is not the only thing that sets this EdTech apart, they also have over 70 career options helmed by 70 Bolt Mentors, from architecture, art and other careers, who mentor the children. "There is an exchange of assignments, feedback, queries answered and so much more," explains the youngster who pursued his Master's in Quantitative Finance from Rutgers Business School along with co-conspirator and co-founder Pallav Kumar.
With NGO Project 511, the start-up was on its way to digitising three government schools namely Mehbubia Girls High School, Abids; Government Nehru Memorial High School, Malakpet and Government City Model High School, Chaderghat. The idea was that students would watch the live classes on a projector, go home to their app and answer questions. They were even experimenting with giving 40 tabs in the classroom itself, but the second wave of COVID hit and forced the schools to shut again. "For the last 17-odd years, Project 511 has been focusing on washrooms, blackboards, benches and the like. It was when they were getting into the quality of education that they decided to try this model. They have over 1,200 schools under them, so if all goes well, we could be in them all," explains the youngster.
Clearly, Bolt is a video-extensive venture and to tide them through the work, there are 16 people on their team and a few interns as well. Take, for example, their Just A Minute (JAM) video, where every chapter is explained in under a minute. Plus, apart from playing academics-related videos, they have motivational and general gyaan videos to keep children pumped up. We hear that every child engages on their app for at least an hour every day. And all these initiatives are going a long way, a few students have gone on to pursue their education in varsities like University of Arizona and University of Nebraska and have received scholarships too. What else does one need, really?
For more on them check out renlighteducation.com
