Education is very holistic when you talk about a child’s development, it’s not just studying subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, or Social Science.- Anand Prakash
With a sudden change in the learning pedagogy due to the pandemic, students have adapted to the learn-from-home methods of schooling. This has taken away co-curricular activities from them. Keeping this in mind, Vedantu, an ed-tech start-up, launched V-Nurture, a platform for co-curricular learning for students across the nation. From getting Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador to introducing 50 co-curricular activities, TT-Edugraph caught up with Anand Prakash, co-founder, and head of academics, Vedantu to know more about their latest endeavor.
TT-Edugraph: Since its inception, Vedantu has focused on helping children with the school curriculum. What prompted you to branch out to extra-curricular activities with V-Nurture?
Anand Prakash: Education is very holistic when you talk about a child’s development, it’s not just studying subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, or Social Science.
Due to Covid, schools were shut down and all these activities came to a standstill. Pre-pandemic we had courses like Public Speaking and Debate apart from the regular courses. Vedic Maths was a regular feature in our curriculum. We felt this is the right time to add more optional courses and see whether they are adapting to it or not. These courses help the students to grow holistically.
What kind of skill development does V-Nurture offer? Why do you think it is necessary to instill these skills from a young age?
In life, what matters is confidence and overall personality development. The courses we offer will help you grow in your career post-college days. We believe that if we can provide a set of skills to students at a very early stage, it will help them grow.
We keep on adding courses like Public Speaking, Quiz, Astronomy, Art journaling, and Time Management. We have around 50 courses, with the most popular being World of Astronomy, International Arts, Communicative English --- Poetry recitation or Debate, Vedic Math, Quiz Club --- Water Bodies or Literature Quiz, Art Journaling, Public Speaking, and Time Management.
For which age groups are these courses meant? How are these courses being delivered (the format)?
We have created different platforms for different kinds of activities. Right from having videos, to platforms where students can create art and craft and showcase it to others. We have different platforms catering to the needs of all these courses that we are launching. We are currently catering to students between 10 to 18-years. We are planning to start courses for 3 to 9-years-olds as well.
Is the same model being followed --- giving teachers the freedom to create their tutorial classes and children to browse and pick- or, something else?
Our teachers have their skillset. Some teachers are good in art and craft, some specialised in Vedic Maths, some added computer literacy to their skillsets. We give them the freedom to create these courses and see which courses work more. Then they work with the content team to develop these courses in detail.
As Head of academics, which segment of learners/ students are you going to focus on in a big way going forward? Why?
Our focus is on students from kindergarten to Class XII. Our courses add value to students. We want to create an impact on students at an early age because that is a molding stage.
How has having Amir Khan as the brand ambassador helped reach some of your goals?
He is very passionate about co-curricular activities. One of the talking points when we were signing Aamir Khan as a brand ambassador was that he wants to bring change in students’ life. You can see and relate to the movies that he has done like Taare Zameen Par and 3 Idiots. Our discussion was very fruitful. He was interested in talking about a few of the courses at Vedantu especially if it is adding value to a student's life.
