COVID-19 triggered a quantum leap in the adoption of education technology.

In March 2020, about 150 countries went into full school and university closures disrupting the learning of 168 million school-age children and 220 million young adults in college, university and vocational education. Most of the global workforce started work-from-home (WFH) with extra free time to invest in personal development and further education. 

As governments, education institutions and households rushed to provision remote learning, the EdTech sector boomed – venture-capital funding doubled between 2019 and 2020 to $14.6 billion. 2021 was a record year for EdTech – $20 billion capital raised, 20+ unicorns registered and a few successful IPOs including Coursera, Duolingo and Udemy.  In particular online private tutoring, exam & test preparation, degree & certification courses as well as casual, skills-based learning segments thrived during Covid. 

The outlook for 2022 looks uncertain – Tech. companies across the board including EdTech are adjusting strategy following a high-growth period. India, which experienced the highest growth in EdTech startups in 2021 is undergoing a major shakeup as high-profile startups undergo layoffs and some shutdown operations. Even though Q1’22 EdTech funding at $4.5 billion is an uplift over Q1’21, the annual projection for 2022 at $18 billion indicates an expected slow down.  

Despite the present uncertainty, the potential for technology in education remains high. Indeed a few categories such as online tutoring are seeing subscriptions cancelled as campuses re-open. However the overall picture for EdTech is much stronger for two important reasons. Firstly, worldwide teachers are now trained in digital teaching methods, teacher ICT skills shortage being a major barrier to widespread adoption of EdTech. Secondly, the education system is more digitized as several teaching, learning and administrative processes went online in COVID. This opens up the School and Public Sector for blended learning, combining the best of in-person and digital learning pedagogies. Over 82% world governments reported the need for more EdTech tools and training in a UNESCO survey conducted in Feb’21.

The equivalent of 255 million FTE workers who were displaced or lost their jobs due to Covid will continue to leverage online re-skilling and up-skilling courses. It is estimated that 17.4% of the global workforce has potential to WFH long-term post-COVID. In 2022, 42% of core job skills are expected to change as workplaces reorganize and digitize. These work trends have huge implications for corporate, higher, vocational and further education sectors. In sales jobs for example, not only the place and mode of work but also the nature of work itself has changed as online prospecting, sales analytics and automation become the new normal.   

EdTech gains will continue in coming years. The time to review strategy for organic and inorganic growth is NOW.