With the advances in technology educational institutions are becoming smarter. Technology has started to transform the entire teaching and learning process. The main advantage is that it will help in reducing the time spent on building the learning framework and increasing the time spent on learning. Spending on technology has become a must do for educational institutions.

IT is considered as critical component of the educational system as it enhances the opportunities for the students. It will provide opportunities for both teachers as well as students to excel in teaching and learning. In order to facilitate teaching many software companies have started to develop educational software. This has led to ICT companies focusing on Indian educational sector in a large scale. Many major ICT providers have already entered Indian market and others are planning to enter the market.

Software providers

In order to boost the efforts of the National Literacy Mission, Tata Consultancy Service has extended technical support to spread literacy through Computer-Based Functional Literacy (CBFL) programme.

Macromedia , a graphics and web designing company has developed a software using Flash and Dreamweaver that helps in teaching subjects such as Mathematics and Science. According to S. Krishnamachari, Country Manager, Macromedia, students were not interested in what was taught in class. But now with of use of software students have started to show interest in learning.

The education sector in India is growing at faster pace and the adoption of technology by this sector has brought immense opportunities for leading Information and Communication technology (ICT) providers. The major companies which compete for their share in the Indian education sector are Acer, BenQ, Transcend, Micro Star International (MSI), D-Link and Optoma.

BenQ offering projectors

BenQ, a global supplier of projectors, has sold projectors in the first six months of the current year, which is double the number of projectors that were sold in the previous year. This shows a growth of 480 percent in sales during the current year.

According to country head Rajeev Singh, BenQ, they have provided more than 20 types of projectors which are durable and user friendly to schools across India. Thus they have helped 15,000 classrooms to gain access to superior technology. He also claimed that BenQ enjoys a market share of 35 percent in India.

The ICT industry has many of the world’s biggest manufacturers of computers and associated hardware. The Taiwanese ICT companies manufacture more than 70 per cent of LCD monitors, more than 94 per cent of laptops and 88 per cent of all net books across the world.

Acer with its laptops

According to the chief marketing officer, Acer India, they claim to have 40 per cent of the market share in India. They are trying to increase their market share by focusing on both private and public sector educational institutions in India.

According to S Rajendran, chief marketing officer, Acer India, they have been focusing on both private sector and public sector educational institutions since 2009. He claims that they have been offering competitive products to the customers and that they were successful in delivering quality after sales service which has helped them in increasing their market share. He also claims that they were able to provide right technology tools to the youth that helps them to enhance their learning capabilities.

He said that acer India was able to implement successful projects in the past years which included K-12, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and higher education. He also added that education is the driver of economic growth of any country and that their range of products including desktops, notebooks and projectors will empower the next generation youth in India.

Storage and multimedia products from Transcend

Another leading Taiwan based company, Transcend, offers storage and multimedia products. It is observed that their sales have been increasing with more and more students using USB drives to store data

According to Gordon Wu, the regional head of transcend of South Asia, 3.5 million USB drives were sold by Transcend in India during the previous year and that they expect to increase the sale by 25 percent in the current year.

Samrita Trust, a school for the visually handicapped in Andhra Pradesh has bought 4 GB MP330 MP3 players for the purpose of use in audio books. This indicates the change of India in the educational sector which has experienced increase in the use of technology in class rooms which ranges from projectors to gadgets.

Other Taiwan based companies such as MSI which manufactures mother boards and laptops, Optoma, which manufactures projectors and Thermaltake, which offers fun games as a part of learning has also eyed Indian market which is a potential market for them.

In addition to the efforts made by the Indian government to promote IT in educational institutions, the private sector has started to adopt IT in their teaching process. Most of the educational institutes use projectors and laptops for teaching and learning. Teachers use projectors to take classes and presentations, while students use laptops to prepare notes and do assignments.

The Taiwan Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs have entrusted Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), a non profit trade organization to promote Taiwan based companies. As a part of it they have organized a “Taiwan Excellence” campaign which intends to build preference for Taiwanese ICT products which are reliable and innovative.

The superior Indian software industry and superior Hardware from Taiwan will make a perfect combination.

Estimates show that India will have 220 million students passing out from school in 2020. This is a very positive signal for the ICT providers as the institutions in India are adopting technology in class rooms at very large scale. In addition to Taiwanese providers there are also other ICT providers such as DELL, Thoshiba, Sony etc that have a major share in the Indian market. More and more companies are planning to enter the Indian market to provide the educational sector with more ICT solutions. One thing is for sure, the competition in serving the educational sector is going to tough.