Col. (Retd) Rajendra P. Nadella (“unfortunately unrelated to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella”) is founder and CEO of the Bangalore-based iScholar Education Services (estb. 2013), an online education company which provides on-demand live tutoring to K-12 students. iScholar’s 50 teachers and subject experts deliver tutorials from state-of-the-art studios in Bangalore to 12,000 students in 35 schools in nine states including Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir and Kerala.
Newspeg. In July, aggregate enrolment in iScholar’s flagship i30 study programme — an initiative launched in collaboration with the Patna-based Super 30, the well-known coaching centre promoted by nationally acclaimed educator Anand Kumar to prepare underprivileged students for the intensely competitive IIT-JEE, the joint entrance examination of the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) — crossed 3,000. iScholar’s i30 course offers pre-recorded video lectures of Kumar, practice tests, one-on-one Q&A sessions and personalised feedback to school-leavers aspiring for admission into India’s top-ranked engineering colleges and universities.
History. Nadella, who studied in a rural government school in Vijaywada and the Sainik School, Korukonda prior to being admitted into the prestigious National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla (Pune), served in the Indian Army for 16 years before putting in his voluntary retirement papers in 2007. Soon after, he signed up for a short-term executive management programme of the Indian Retail School, Delhi (IRS) and in 2009, established IRS franchises in Bangalore and Hyderabad. “I found it difficult to hire faculty for our Hyderabad institute. That’s when the idea of online streaming of classes struck me,” he recalls.
To implement the idea, following a military-style timetable Nadella marshalled a team of IT experts and educationists to build a modern tele-education platform with two-way audio and video interactivity, which can operate efficiently in low Internet bandwidth environments. “From the beginning, I have been insistent that iScholar’s exam preparation services should be accessible to children even in the remotest parts of India where Internet connectivity tends to be poor. I strongly believe that every child willing to learn should receive high-quality education at affordable price,” he says.
Direct talk. With even top-ranked institutions finding it difficult to recruit good teachers, Nadella believes digital online education is the solution. “For instance, our i30 programme provides the lectures of Anand Kumar who has tutored and mentored 422 school-leavers from economically backward classes to crack IIT-JEE and enter these premier engineering institutes. But while most test prep companies levy tuition fees of Rs.1-2 lakh per year, our students pay a mere Rs.15,000-20,000,” says Nadella.
Future plans. “Enthused by the excellent public response to iScholar, and i30, we have drawn up plans to introduce similar affordably priced coaching services to prepare students for public entrance exams such as NEET and Karnataka Common Entrance Test. I believe that as we scale up, our tuition fees will reduce further and become affordable for children from bottom-of-the-pyramid households,” he says.
Sruthy Susan Ullas (Bangalore)