This IIM-A alumnus has transformed the learning process

Through a mobile app, thousands of teachers across the country upload reading material so that anyone can easily access knowledge free of cost, Dilip Singh Kshatriya.
Image for representational purpose. (Photo | EPS)
Image for representational purpose. (Photo | EPS)

GUJARAT: If you have heard of Gujarat’s Banaskantha, you’d know why the district has lagged behind in improving the education standards, and how an individual’s herculean efforts have made a huge difference.
Four years ago, Banaskantha-born Ankit Thakor, decided to embark on a paradigm shift to change the way children look at their classes and schoolbooks, not just in Banaskantha but across the state.

To begin with, the IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus, headed home rather than serving in a big multinational company. He borrowed money and started a school in Banaskantha’s Palanpur to get his head around the education system.

Then he thought of starting an app. He asked for help from his friends who studied with him in IIM. They got together and started the Edutor app that enables anyone sitting in any corner of India to get an education free of cost. Today, more than 41,000 teachers are associated with Edutor. In just six months, teachers are uploading 19,000-plus videos, 27,000-plus quizzes, 2,500-plus exams and 4,500-plus learning material on the app.

“I started developing the idea of an open platform for education. In March 2020, when the traditional learning system suddenly came crashing down following a Covid-induced lockdown, I decided to go the whole hog with my free education platform, later called Edutor App,” recalls Ankit. His friend Vipul Modi from IIM-Ahmedabad joined the project. So did many others. “A team of a dozen people has now become the leading identity and strength of the Edutor app,” says Ankit proudly. The academic team started to create a community of the best teachers in India. More than 5,500 best teachers, including 28 national award winners, from 23 states of the country are a part of the family of Edutor App. The app took off on Google Play Store in June 2021. The teachers arrived without prompting and, said Ankit.

Under ‘Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav’, the app has launched 11 campaigns in collaboration with the state education department. The department officially circulated letters regarding our campaigns to every government teacher in the state.

With a wide network acceptance of Edutor App, many heart-touching stories of students and teachers have surfaced. Vibha Patel, a teacher in a small village in Panchmahal district of Gujarat, is now teaching more than 4,500 children on the App. The other instance is of Shubham Bansode, a 7th standard student in a village in a very backward area of Solapur district of Maharashtra. He can’t afford to pay the tuition fees, but today he is learning from the teachers of Chhattisgarh and Gujarat and studying for free on the App.
Khushbu Abdul Khan, a young daughter of Umargam of Valsad district, came first in the country in the Shrimad Bhagwad Gita Quiz campaign organized by the Edutor App.

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