PhysicsWallah to invest $10 million in its school-integrated programme

“Vidyapeeth School Centre is a school-integrated programme, which is designed to integrate the concepts and skills required for CBSE exams, along with JEE, and NEET preparation into regular classroom instruction, thereby minimising the need for separate coaching classes for the students,” PhysicsWallah vice-president Imran Rashid said.

Currently, the programme is rolled out in 39 schools across 34 districts spread across 10 states in the country, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana, he added.

“We are planning to invest $10 million in phases, of which $5 million will be spent in setting up infrastructure in the schools and the rest will be utilised for creating top quality content, pedagogy development and academic upgradation. We are investing Rs 8-10 lakh on setting up the infrastructure in each school,” Rashid said.

PhysicsWallah is looking at rolling out the Vidyapeeth School programme in 300 schools by 2025-26, he added.

“We aim to expand our reach to tier III-IV cities and towns across the country, thus boosting access to quality education in remote areas. We are charging less than Rs 2,000 a month per student for providing services, including live classes, real-time doubt-solving applications, modules and tests, among others,” he said.

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The programme, rolled out on April 17, offers benefits to grade 11 students who are preparing for CBSE and JEE/NEET exams and will mainly focus on 4 subjects – Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology, Rashid noted.Developing K-12 content

ET reported in March that PhysicsWallah is working towards entering the K-12 segment next year with digital learning products that would be made available through both online and offline channels, people aware of the matter said.

The digital courses will be sold along with relevant books, they said.

Its plan to enter the K-12 segment comes at a time when funding has slowed down in the edtech sector, with investors becoming cautious as demand for online courses has taken a hit after the reopening of schools and offline coaching centres.

A person in the know of the plans had told ET the Noida-based company is designing science and maths study material for Grade 4-10, and is currently experimenting to solve the challenges of price points and customer acquisition — something that edtech startups have been grappling with after the pandemic-induced demand for their courses started receding.

Last June, the edtech startup entered the unicorn club when it raised $100 million in its maiden funding round led by WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures.