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Evidence­based data to improve school performance
Details
01 Apr
2015
Posted by MADHUMITA PRABHAKAR
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF)­backed Gray Matters was started with a simple vision of helping
affordable private schools measure school performance, and suggest improvements
THE PROBLEM
Today, in India, there are over one lakh affordable, private English­medium schools targeted at
children from low income and middle­income groups. The children join these schools in the hope of
achieving a social upward mobility. However, there is no proper system in place to measure the impact
these schools are creating, and even monitor the progress made by these kids. Pradeep Sharma, an
MBA from Asian Institute of Management and a former employee of Infosys and HCL, saw potential
to build a non­profit organization focused on measuring key metrics in a school and result in
enhancing the following: enrollment, learning outcome, teaching quality and overall patient
satisfaction.
THE SOLUTION
“We were interested in disrupting this space but one of the primary challenges we faced was, we didn’t
know how many schools are there in each city, what are the challenges they face, what is their
affordability quotient to improve their offerings and such. That’s when we thought we’ll increase
transparency in this space in order to help schools offer better quality education,” shares Sharma.
Thus was founded Gray Matters Education Pvt. ltd in early 2014, with the primary objective of rating
schools based on a set of tests which included school infrastructure audits, live classroom management
observations, standardized tests for children, focus group discussions with parents and more.
EVOLVING FROM A NON­PROFIT TO FOR­PROFIT MODEL
Initially incubated by Gray Matters Capital, the company followed a declining subsidy model with the
first 35 schools in Hyderabad. Meaning, since the schools had restrictive budgets, the company didn’t
take any fee during the first year with the company taking on 100 per cent of the cost. During the
second year, the company owned up 90 per cent of the cost and the school covered 10 per cent. In the
third year, the school owned 25 per cent to 50 per cent of the cost and so on. While this helped Gray
Matters gain the initial trust and traction, soon, the team realised that it needed to build a financially
sustainable model. “We wanted to focus on making our offering better rather than thinking we’re
doing a great service. And, we didn’t want to force schools to sign up with us but allow them to choose
our services. In fact, when I deliver higher value, I can sign up more schools,” reasons Sharma.
Thus, in December 2013, Gray Matters spun off into an independent entity and positioned itself as an
educational diagnostics and analytics company. The company’s vision was to use data to help schools
take better decisions and monitor their progress over time.
PLAYING ON AFFORDABILITY
Despite becoming a for­profit model, the company had to innovate on several fronts to keep its pricing
affordable (given the segment its solutions are targeted at). Thus, it focused on two segments to
balance this – managing cost of acquisition and cost of delivery.
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Cost of acquisition, as we all know, is the sales and marketing cost. Instead of going from school­to­
school with a sales pitch, the company partnered with solution providers such as SEED and iDiscoveri,
which already have a partnership with several hundred schools. A second strategy was to partner with
NGOs, which hold programs that benefit schools in this segment, a good example being the School
Leadership Program by India School Leadership Institute. “Apart from this, we also do our own
workshops on topics such as implementation of technology in schools, importance of independent
assessment and more, where we invite 30 to 50 schools,” shares Sharma. At such instances, the
company builds a relationship of trust with the schools and offers its solutions as the next step.
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LOOKING AHEAD
In February last year, the company raised Rs. 4.5 crore from Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the
funds from which were channelised towards developing technology and creating a for­profit model.
“MSDF was associated with us in one way or the other for the past two years. And, they were following
our growth closely. Thus, fund raising from them was a natural next step, not something that
happened at an instant,” reveals Sharma.
This year alone, the company has reached out to 2,500 schools and has established a presence in
Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai. It has serviced over 600 schools, impacting over 300,000
students.
Going forward, its key focus areas lay in incorporating tablets and downloadable apps into the system
to make assessments easier and to give schools higher exposure. Overall, it aims to partner with 5,000
schools in about five years, and achieve an operational break­even in a year and a half.
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Evidence­based data to improve school
performance
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF)­
backed Gray Matters was started with a
simple vision of helping affordable private
schools measure school performance, and
suggest improvem
“It is not about being
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