Covid-19 and school education in India: A critical spatial and ‘meritocratic’ appraisal of emerging EdTech

The Covid-19 pandemic has radically induced the spaces of learning to the online medium, leading to a sharp impetus in EdTech companies. The Indian education sector is one of the largest E-learning sectors in the world, the market size of which is expected to reach USD 30 billion by 2031. The EdTech companies posit as an alternative to physical spaces and offer an array of learning tools from school education to coaching to qualify for top colleges and universities in India. The paper examines how such development may alter the nature of public goods like education as a ‘commodity’ subject to a competitive marketplace, potentially worsening socio-economic inequities. The paper has conducted a cluster random sampling survey for 10-18 years old school students about their online education experiences. Furthermore, it shall locate and theorise the stated hypothesis within Sandel’s framework of meritocracy and Harvey’s space and further study the socio-economic implications of online education in India already entrenched in socio-economic biases.