ADD-on-GYAN Educational Services Pvt. Ltd is a venture established in order to reduce the many problems present in the Indian Education Sector and bridge the widening gap between theoretical and practical education in India. We began operations as a Start-up Company at Manipal University - Technology Business Incubator on 20th January and registered as a Private Limited company in July, 2011.
Our flagship product 'Gyan Lab' (including Science, Mathematics, Technology, Robotics, Pre-vocational Practices) is a kinesthetic lab facility which enables school students of grades 3 - 9 learn by practical exercises, model making and hands-on experience. We provide students lesson relevant kits containing all necessary equipments and tools along with a kinestatic manual so that the students may conduct the experiments themselves along with gaining valuable conceptual knowledge, a component missing to a great extent in our Indian Education Curriculum.
Our current economy is a knowledge economy but there are major reforms necessary in order to validate and consolidate the same. This is where our Organization, ADD-on-GYAN is playing a vital role and helping churn out a better and more productive workforce.

Problem

The Indian K-12 Education sector is a US$ 20 billion market. There are more than 1,400,000 primary, secondary and high schools in India. The sheer size of the education market in India is staggering but there is a harsh truth following this. The education system grinds the students such that they are made to give priority to scoring well in examinations which directly results in neglect of understanding concepts properly and retort to learning by rote. This creates a lot of pressure on the minds of the students, to which many of them succumb and lose interest in studies. As such, the meaning of education is lost. In a recently conducted annual Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) by the OECD Secretariat, India finished 2nd from last while our neighbours China finished at the 1st spot. The problem solving ability of an Indian eighth grader is equivalent to a South Korean third grader which is a shame. Only 1/4 technical and 15% humaties graduates are employable. Between 2008-10, 16000+ school kids have committed suicide due to pressure. So, our system at Gyan Lab has been developed keeping in mind the requirements of the Indian student. It adds a valuable component of practice based learning to a dormant education system. Hence, Gyan Lab is the perfect platform to take education to the next level. Our target market would primarily be 7% of all schools or 70,000+ schools in India which are private comprising of 27% of all school going kids in India.

Solution

Gyan Lab contains 700 hours of uniquely customized experiments in science, mathematics, humanities, robotics, electronics and pre-vocational practices. Gyan Lab works on an innovative model where we setup the entire facility within the school premises free of cost and charge a use-based monthly fees from students which is roughly between Rs 0 - 200. This is a fraction of the fees charged by other organization doing similar work. This is due to our smaller margins and social nature even though we are a for-profit venture. Two key elements of Gyan Lab make it unique and innovative. 1) Gyan Meter – This Integrated Learning Measurement System has been designed by us to measure and improve the ability to understand concepts by school students. This process is unique to us and we are the first to have this innovative measurement system in place in India. 2) Practical Gyan Manual – We have kept into attention 7 important parameters while designing and creating content for these manuals. Every manual comes with a new story having a central character to students which is why they grasp 30 – 50% more than regular textbooks. Another innovation that we introduced with Gyan Lab was the concept of Community Gyan Lab. Our mission would have been incomplete without taking this product to the lower strata of the Indian society. So, we came up with a model where a portion of the revenue generated at three regular Gyan Labs would be used to fund and run one Community Gyan Lab.

Example

Gyan Lab is the epitome of quality practical education at most affordable rates. We have successfully tested and launched a sustainable model that can be easily afforded by our target group of schools and their students. We currently have 2 financially viable models,Leased and Selling models respectively, of Gyan Lab along with a free model,Free or No Cost, for Community Gyan Lab as well. In the leased model, we provide a complete setup of Gyan Lab along with all required experiments and other materials to schools at no cost. School students invest an annual fee of only Rs. 225 for math, Rs. 320 for science, Rs. 500 for the combined lab models. So the monthly fee paid by a student is between Rs. 22 - Rs. 44. The lab facility allows students to perform 25+ unique exercises in math and science and over 50 in combined models in every grade beginning from grade 3. Usually, our customers are schools where students pay monthly fees of Rs1500 or more! Think of a child using Gyan Lab from grades 3-10 through 8 years, the total investment made would be between Rs. 2,094 - Rs. 4,323 while the returns in terms of child's growth would be incomparable and a life changer for the child. The second model is where we cater to the schools and teachers who in turn teach the students. The average cost of a mathematics kit is about Rs. 178.29 and that of a science kit is Rs. 250.72. We have a total of 130 maths and 190 science activities from grade 3-10 in our offering which can be completey bought by a school as well. The total combined price of all 130 maths kits is Rs. 22,286 and that of all 190 science kits is Rs. 50,144. Community Gyan Lab are free Gyan Lab that is provided to students belonging to underprivileged backgrounds. A portion of total revenue generated from three regular Gyan Labs is utilized to provide for and maintain one Community Gyan Lab. This enables us to give the same quality kits as those in regular Gyan Lab. Our model enables each Community Gyan Lab to cater to around 900 students in one sitting and over 2,700 students in a year. We are on way to start the 1st one in August, 2012.

Marketplace

At present we have 3 active competitors in the market space we are operating. Even though each company specializes in different domain and with a different price value, a school that has opted for on of the product and service will not have a desire for any of the other products. 1. Think Labs: It is a IIT-alumnus venture in the field of hands-on-science and technology education catering to schools and colleges. A pioneer and a leader in this space, Think Labs instills scientific temper in school students through innovative programs and prepares college students for careers in embedded systems and robotics. But they only have Robotics lab in execution right now. Moreover the cost of enrolling in a Think Lab session is Rs.100/hour 2. Brain Cafe: It is a Zee Learn's endeavour to enable the schools across India to have innovative and interactive learning environemnt. They have Sceince, Robotics and English Lab and the total cost of enrolling in Brain Cafe programme is Rs. 2000 - Rs. 3000 per year 3. Butterfly Fields: The team strongly feels that the career choice of an individual should be driven by his passions and interests which are intrinsic to him rather than by any external influence. They have a Science and a Math Lab along with Community Program and the cost of enrolling for their programme is Rs. 400 - Rs. 1500 per year.