Erudite plans school chain

Macmillan Publishers India Limited and Erudite Technologies have joined hands to offer visual learning aids for schools in India.

The tie-up is expected to increase reach and improve assimilation.

Simultaneously, Erudite intends to start its own brand of schools.

On its part, Macmillan is in talks with new-age authors for ‘value-added’ books.

Erudite is planning to run and manage close to 50 schools over the next three years in metropolitan cities.

According to Srikanth Iyer, COO of Erudite, “We will not own the schools. We are talking to existing schools who are looking at expansion to own these schools but outsource the management to us in terms of content and daily teaching. We are also in talks with a strategic investor for $5-8 million funds that we would require for running and managing the schools.”

Erudite also expects to close the current fiscal at Rs 45 crore, up from Rs 10 crore last year, on the back of new solutions and initiatives. Currently, Erudite’s content and teaching aids are used in over 3,000 schools, that also cater to six state board syllabi.

The cost of Erudite education works out to Rs 100 per student per month.

Macmillan, on its part, is in the process of using new-age technology for its books and other educational materials.

According to Alok Lahoti, senior vice-president, sales and marketing of Macmillan Publishers India, “We are talking to a few authors for new-age books, like books on adolescence counselling and others. We are also revising our catalogue of over 2,500 books in order to upgrade the content.”

“We are looking at more tie-ups after the one with Erudite in order to make Macmillan books more technology-savvy, and so we are talking to other technology partners,” Lahoti addded.