The number of quality teachers across India are dwindling but the usage of IT in education can reduce the problems related to managing teaching and learning processes. Swapnil D, Founder Director, eParvesh

What IT products and services does ePravesh provide to educational institutions?

ePravesh.com is an online marketplace for education where admission forms of various institutes including MBA institutes, training institutes, colleges, executive and university courses are available. Students and parents both can visit the portal and submit online application forms of various institutes and make online payment of form fees. They can also find information about the status of applications in a particular institute along with merit list and waiting list updates, etc. In addition, their queries can be resolved by the concerned authorities within institutes using live chat, SMS and email communication in an integrated environment.

ePravesh offers an online retail outlet for books called BookShelf.co.in which helps students purchase various academic, educational, reference Books, CD/DVD material online at discounted rates with various home delivery options. Our third platform Eklavvya.in helps an institute to manage assessment of students in an efficient and effective way by providing results and detailed analysis of each student's performance.

What are the other IT solutions that can be used to improve education in India?

Online learning through Live Streaming/Video Conferencing: Today there is scarcity of quality teachers and faculty across India. Tools like video conferencing, online meetings, and digital classrooms can help solve problems related to lack of quality teachers. This solution is especially useful in rural India where good teachers from metro cities can teach students using video conferencing or online classroom solutions.

Mobile-based applications: Currently, about 84 crore people in India are using mobile phones. This clearly shows that with about 70% of the country's population having access to mobile phones and with the entry of 3G and 4G technologies foraying into the Indian market the education sector can use it as an effective tool to spread education in a scalable and cost effective manner.

Usage of IT in exams and assessment processes: Current examination or assignment system in educational institutes lacks creativity and is not scalable where result generation process is time consuming. Technology usage is essential to simplify the process and make it error free. This is also one of the main reasons why examinations like CAT and AIEEE are being conducted online to reduce errors.

What are your expectations from IT in education in India?

There will be better penetration of technology due to usage of cloud-based platforms which are cost effective and scalable for educational institutes. There is a positive trend for learning technologies like smart boards being used in some of the schools of India. I expect technologies related to online learning, and assessment processes to penetrate faster on mobile-based platforms.