An alumnus of IIT-Delhi and IIM-Calcutta, Rohit Pande is co-promoter (with IIT classmate Sameer Buti) of Mind Shaper Technologies Pvt. Ltd (MST, estb.1999).
Newspeg. On January 3, Classteacher Learning Systems — a division of MST — launched its computer tablet branded Classpad as a rival to the much publicised Aakash, launched by the Union human resource development ministry in October last year. Although Classpad is priced in a higher range between Rs.7,500-14,000 against Aakash’s rock bottom Rs.2,250, it has a touch screen with a seven-hour battery life (against Aakash’s two-three hours), 1.3 Ghz processing speed, a built-in memory of 4 GB expandable upto 32 GB (336 Mhz and 2 GB).
Classteacher Learning Systems. Quite obviously knowledgeable investors are willing to bet on MST’s “superior and more robust technology”. In June last year, Fidelity Growth Partners India invested $15 million (Rs.76.5 crore) to acquire a “significant minority stake” in Mind Shaper Technologies. Currently, the company’s Classteacher Learning Systems division offers interactive whiteboards, teaching and assessment solutions, and science, math and language labs apart from consultancy services to over 600 schools, 1 million students and 25,000 educators. All the products and services of the company — including the largest repositories of digital education content in the country with 85,000 teaching modules mapped to multiple education boards — are customised and packaged into a digital interactive classroom programme installed in client schools.
Direct talk. “I believe an era of transition to personalised and interactive learning is around the corner. This is a big opportunity to provide high quality web-based learning solutions to students across the country through digital devices including interactive classroom programmes and tablets such as Classpad. I’m confident our Classpad will prove to be a popular students’ choice within two years. We have a successful history and solutions portfolio to make our offerings work,” says Pande.
Future plans. Looking ahead to the needs and scale of India’s K-12 education market, Pande believes this segment will remain the focus of MST’s innovation efforts in the foreseeable future. “We have a good track record of assessing the needs of the school education segment. We introduced interactive whiteboards when no one talked about them; we made the transition from analogue to digital labs and initiated robotics education. We see great opportunities in small towns where parents have huge aspirations, and schools and students are ready to accept the role and power of technology,” says Pande.
God speed!
Autar Nehru (Delhi)