Online education has reached a new high since the pandemic hit us. Reskilling and upskilling on digital platforms sitting at the comfort of your homes are the new normal. Following this approach, HR services company Ma Foi has launched an e-learning platform called Ma Foi Etude to offer simple yet high-quality online programmes to make students employable.
Announcing the launch through a webinar on Friday, Ma Foi Group’s founders K Pandiarajan and Latha Rajan that the platform will be in line with the government's new National Education Policy wherein they have promised a 50 per cent gross enrolment ratio by 2035. "Etude will focus on curating need-based programmes from a learner's point of view. We are aiming to come up with programmes that are relevant and easily consumable by every student across age groups, gender and geographies in our country and the world with a clear focus on employability. Our main focus is on equitable education to enhance employability. As job roles are changing, resilience, flexibility, adaptability are some major skills that students need to be equipped with," said Latha Rajan, Co-founder of the Ma Foi Group.
K Pandiarajan, Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil culture and also a co-founder of Ma Foi added, "These programmes will be blended — online and offline. The focus will be on skills and also perspective building on the digital platform."
The launch also included panellists — CK Ranganathan, Chairman, CavinKare, Sridhar Vembu, Founder & CEO, Zoho, Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director – IIT-Madras, Josh Foulger, Country Head and MD, Foxconn International and Holding and Kapil Viswanathan, Vice Chairman, KREA University.
Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras congratulated the team and spoke about the importance of understanding what kind of infrastructure the country needs in order to shift education online. "We have to use everything we have got, every trick to help people get a better education. In terms of technology, I hope that in the next five years, the coverage becomes less patchy, coverage increases in rural areas. Investments are not really huge for the government to do so, what I feel is there is no mechanism in place to make it work."
Speaking about how IITM has been using technology to their advantage, he said: "At IITM, we have leveraged technology with the recent online BSc degree and we have learnt a lot. What we will have to do everywhere now is get the missing elements from physical learning to online learning. I am a little sceptical too and not really convinced in my bones that an entire degree can be done online, but we do learn a lot. And we need to face these challenges. What I genuinely feel is that this medium helps showcase wonderful teachers to a larger audience. We just need to curate the programmes in the right way."
CK Ranganathan, Chairman, Cavinkare, agreeing with what Professor Ramamurthi said, added, "Digital education will become a part of the curriculum. Companies now will expect more skills. Schools in remote villages can be involved with better connectivity and quality teachers can reach them. That will make a huge difference in our country's development"
Kapil Viswanathan, Vice Chairman, Krea University added that online learning will help reach a larger number of students. "The world is becoming so dynamic and different that our challenge is of building a new university every day to meet the capacity to serve the Indian population. Online has to play a role to bridge this gap. Higher education too plays an integral role in a student's life as it is the preparation for life and career. Online learning can boost their professional skills," he said.
