EdTech Is Expected To Grow As Startups Fill In Learning Gaps During Quarantine

Educational Technology (EDTECH) is seeing astronomical growth in announced deal sizes, from USD 70.0 thousand in 2018 to USD 3.4 million in 2020. Invested capital in this sector is highly attributed to capital raised by Edukasyon PH. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the country's adoption of education technology as schools are forced to abruptly shift to online learning in accordance with health protocols that do not accommodate the typical classroom setup. As the current crisis poses challenges to traditional face-to-face learning, EdTech start-ups are looking to fill in the gaps with technology and will inevitably play a key role in ensuring students' learning continuity. In a global report by Ambient Insight, the Philippines was ranked 7th in the world when it comes to anticipated growth in e-learning revenues for the decade. This can be attributed to the large population of the country, with the majority belonging to the younger age groups that are still in school or about to enter the workforce.

In 2019, the Department of Education had an estimate of 27.2 million students in basic education. With schools implementing distance learning for the upcoming school year, learning management systems startups and tech suppliers are expected to be positively impacted. Notable local players in this field include PhilSmile, KITE e-Learning solutions, and JackenPoy. Aside from providing online learning tools during quarantine, the education sector continues to face other problems that EdTech startups have been trying to address including the high dropout rate in higher education as a result of increasing tuition fees, and the skills-job mismatch with the lack of course offerings that would meet the increasing employment demand for modern industries like data science and software engineering. Among the current local start-ups trying to fill these gaps are Edukasyon.ph, InvestED, Eskwelabs, and Avion School.

Although the potential market is massive, the EdTech sector remains underinvested. The relatively low investment in EdTech compared to Fintech or Enterprise Solutions startups is attributed to the small number of startups entering this market. However, with the rise of new problems in education in the country and the interest in alternative learning solutions sparked by COVID-19, EdTech in the Philippines is beginning to spark interest.