English philosopher Herbert Spencer once said: “The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action.” Though he made this comment more than 100 years ago, the sentiment could easily apply to the admirable way that GCC students and educators managed the unintended pivot to remote learning in 2020.
The rapid adoption of digital technology to keep students connected with their teachers and the classroom was a seismic shift that should rightly be acknowledged. In the GCC, where student enrolments crossed 12.2 million in 2019, the transition to more ‘blended’ learning programmes is hastening permanent changes to both teaching methods and business models.
Moving forward, we must ensure that the inflow of EdTech is not just used to hastily fill the gaps that traditional models cannot fill. A considered programme of technology investment can allow educational providers to improve their offering while realigning their business models to drive growth, enhance adaptability and scalability, and be better prepared for any future shocks to the system.
By managing this transition to a blended system, we will ensure that the educators and students do not suffer from ongoing changes, but are instead empowered to teach and learn in new and creative ways that will serve the needs of a future-orientated society.
Negotiating change
As the GCC education industry continues to grow, we expect to see increased collaborative measures that improve operational efficiencies and educational outcomes. But while the wish to integrate EdTech is strong, there are numerous challenges that stakeholders must overcome.
Technology is a fast-evolving sector where both hardware and software are quickly rendered obsolete by newer models. As the sector is constantly evolving and developing the learning platform, there is need for exciting technology such as a combination of AI with machine learning and adaptive learning, so that teaching the curriculum becomes a seamless process. Products that integrate effortlessly with current systems/software, and which are easy to interpret, are likely to be more effective and successful.
It is therefore crucial to build a strong technology infrastructure via considered, consistent investment. More flexible approaches to in-person and remote education are likely to attract higher investments. By embracing new strategic partnerships with technology providers, the education sector can attract significant investment opportunities. And as governments seem likely to further open the sector to foreign ownership and PPP models, exciting times lie ahead in terms of the sector’s ability to lead this historic change and be at the forefront of global best practises.
Future focused
This process will also be fast-forwarded by the desire across the GCC to prepare its citizens and residents for the coming wave of ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ technologies. The growing adoption of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and robotics necessitates an educational focus on Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics [STEM] subjects.
And once again, partnerships will be a key to ensuring the effective development of new learning models – and growth opportunities for the sector. For example, future jobs are dependent on the sound understanding of mathematics, meaning the online math tutoring space is now a $30 billion global market. Cuemath, which offers an online learning platform for maths has become one of the top 30 global education companies, and, in 2021, officially became a Google for Education partner. This is just one example of the endless growth opportunities around EdTech and the possibilities to broaden and improve the types of education on offer to students.
Next steps
These are exciting times for the GCC education sector. The K-12 school age population is expected to reach 16.3 million by 2024, and the population aged 19-23 years is projected to reach 3.9 million by 2024. The anticipated rise in school and college age population will drive enrolments in the sector, buoyed by rising per capita income and the need for quality education by expatriates and upwardly mobile citizens. All of this will likely attract higher investments, with EdTech a big focus for this investment.
The job for education technology companies now is to build products that don’t just tinker around the edges of the education model but provide radical and transformative tools for teaching. While the technology available today alleviates some of the immediate challenges that teachers and students face, a lot more can be achieved. Technology is transforming sectors from logistics to transport to healthcare. The development of EdTech partnerships could help teachers and students do what they do best, in new and exciting ways that ready them for tomorrow’s world.
Vivek Sunder, CEO of Cuemath.
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