Pradeep Singh is the Bangalore-based founder-CEO of Pengala Learning Pvt. Ltd (aka Vidyanext, estb.2010), an ed-tech company with 25 centres across the city offering class IV-XI students of all examination boards, supplementary learning services. Through its software app which can be downloaded on any Android device, Vidyanext tutors — whose services are available at the company’s centres or online — deliver tuition mapped with the syllabuses of all major exam boards — CISCE, CBSE and several state exam boards using a wide range of IT learning tools (VN Diagnostics, VN Video, VN Worksheets, MemoryBuddy, Vidyabot, VN Rewards, InTouch). Currently, the company’s 420 maths, physics, chemistry and biology tutors provide mentoring and coaching services to over 1,000 students in Bangalore. Newspeg. Early this year, Singh launched a recruitment drive for tutors to teach from the comfort of their homes using the Vidyanext learning app. Over the past six months, Vidyanext has signed up 300 carefully selected and trained teachers to provide supplementary tuition to student learners across the city. Students’ subscription fees range from Rs.800-4,000 per subject per month. History. A highly-qualified engineering and management alumnus of IIT-Delhi and Harvard University, Singh acquired a decade of valuable experience in the US working with IT behemoth Microsoft, before turning serial entrepreneur and promoting Aditi Technologies, a Bangalore-based IT services company in 1994. Subsequently, he was a co-promoter of Talisma Corporation Pvt. Ltd (estb.1998) which was sold in 2005 following which he launched Pengala Learning in 2010. Since then over the past two years, Singh and his 60-member team designed online test preparation systems for Aakash Educational Services and Brilliant Tutorials before venturing into the hybrid learning centres and online supplementary tuitions business. Direct talk. “I am driven by the mission to develop scalable solutions for the enormous education deficit in India. Technology has changed almost everything in our lives but education. In Pengala Learning, we believe IT-enabled supplementary education can change the status quo and make up for the inefficient and indifferent pedagogies of schools. Therefore, I teamed up with an old friend Will Poole, managing-director of Unitus Seed Fund and formerly vice president at Microsoft, to promote Pengala Learning Pvt. Ltd in 2010,” says Singh. Future plans. Singh’s business plan is to spread the network of Vidyanext tutors to within walking distance of every child countrywide. “I am confident we have developed a supplementary education model which will enable every student to improve her conceptual grasp of every subject included in her board exam syllabus, and become fully prepared for higher education,” says Singh. Fair winds! Paromita Sengupta (Bangalore) School leadership trainer Mumbai-based Dr. Hiru Bijlani is the exclusive India licensee of Leadership Management International (LMI), USA. Established in 1966 by renowned US-based self-development guru Paul J. Meyer (1928-2009), LMI is a pioneer provider of leadership and personal development training programmes to enable corporate and institutional leaders achieve measurable personal goals and professional success. Currently, LMI programmes are translated into more than 26 languages, and used in over 80 countries worldwide. Newspeg. In March, Bijlani…
