NITI Aayog, Byju's tie up to educate children in 112 aspirational districts

Government think tank NITI Aayog has partnered with Byju’s, the world’s most valuable edtech company with a valuation of $16.5 billion, to provide children from 112 aspirational districts of the country free access to Byju’s high-quality and tech-driven learning programmes.

Byju’s Career-Plus programme, under Aakash plus Byju’s, will identify and provide high-quality test prep coaching to 3,000 meritorious students of classes 11 and 12 who aspire to appear for NEET and JEE.

“Through our Education for All programme, we have been empowering and impacting millions of children across the country, and by partnering with NITI Aayog, our efforts are being strengthened further,” said Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO, Byju’s.

Raveendran said education holds the key to driving society forward, and we believe that every child, irrespective of their socio-economic background, deserves to have access to quality education. “We are confident that with this partnership, children from underserved communities and locations will be empowered with tech-enabled learning and bring in positive systemic changes in the education ecosystem,” he said.

The firm runs a voluntary programme for children of school-going age, classes 6-12, who can opt-in to receive scholastic content from Byju’s  Learning App for 3 years, under its social impact initiative, Education for All.

The new project envisages the establishment of a dedicated working group that will create a knowledge, innovation, and strategy support system. The team will also actively monitor and evaluate programme implementation to enable efficacy and ensure a better scope of delivery.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said technology has played a key role in helping ensure continuity and a lot of classrooms have moved to an ‘online’ format. In many ways, he said this has catalysed the development of innovations in the Education space. “It is imperative for us to reimagine education and keep pace with these innovations,” said Kant. “Effective use of technology in education can aid transformation and with Byju’s joining us, the students in these aspirational districts will get an opportunity to access quality education.”

For the Career-Plus programme, students will be selected through a pre-designed test and provided teaching and content material, along with mentoring support and guidance. This initiative will combine the best of classroom and online learning, thus providing a hybrid model of education. Apart from dedicated centres for implementing support, students will also have access to digital infrastructure in the form of devices such as tablets and smartphones.