NEW DELHI: India’s leading mobile app for transportation, Ola, today announced its partnership with EduKart, the country’s leading education marketplace, to provide easy access to quality higher education to the families of its driver partners.
Ola, a homegrown venture has opened new avenues for the community of drivers, who have witnessed a sea-change of about 40 percent in their earnings. The cab provider has also been successful in driving first generation entrepreneurship through easier access to passengers, reduction in idle riding time, which in turn leads to increased earnings.
EduKart will provide end-to-end assistance, guidance and also facilitate admissions for drivers and their family members at leading partner colleges. As part of the program, EduKart will also provide assistance in availing scholarship and discounts on fees to family members of Ola drivers.
The partnership between Ola and EduKart is being rolled out for Ola drivers situated in Delhi. Subsequently, it would also benefit drivers from cities like Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
“We aim to play our part in ensuring more and more children across the country have access to quality school and college education. We have hundreds of thousands of driver partners who work with us across 100+ cities today,” said Pranay Jivrajka, COO, Ola said, “With Ola Gurukul, while commenting on the partnership
“The objective of the Gurukul program is to enable access to quality education for children and family members of our partners. We think this will make a significant impact on India’s future as well as to the lives of our driver partners. We hope more and more drivers on our platform avail of this opportunity,” Pranay added.
Ishan Gupta, the CEO of EduKart, expressed his delight at Ola’s commitment towards holistic development of its drivers' community.
“Through its marketplace platform, EduKartis very uniquely positioned in the education landscape to provide access to many high-quality formal and non-formal education programs for the children and family members of the drivers,” said Gupta.
“Our team will provide all possible assistance that students would need to make the best use of this fantastic opportunity being provided to them by the Ola and EduKart partnership,” he added.
The tie-up will ensure full assistance to each student to ensure successful enrollment and completion of a course of his or her choice. Depending on the type of course that the student enrolls in, EduKart will offer support services post enrollment.
When asked whether the partnership will benefit the children, 47-year-old Vir Chand, a driver who has been associated with Ola for over a year now, said: "My son is studying in 12th standard and is working hard to fare well in his exams. This is a turning point in his life. He has to decide on how to build his career.”
“I have learnt about Ola’s partnership with EduKart and I hope my son will get the right guidance and make a sound decision for the next phase in his life,” added Chand.
However, 53-year-old Ghanshyam Rajput believes that Ola has been a saviour for him and his family. It not just increased his earnings, but now it would also help his daughter to understand where her interests lie and will help her decide which career option to opt for.
“She has always been a bright student at studies and I hope with the right guidance and counselling, she would scale greater heights in life,” said Rajput.
This initiative taken by Ola platform is part of Ola’s Gurukul program that was launched recently to provide quality education for the drivers’ school going children. The program has now been broadened to benefit both school going as well as college going family members of drivers on the Ola platform.