The Higher Education Review

Passionate entrepreneurs always strive to do well for the society. Being intelligent observant individuals, entrepreneurs bring solutions to any challenging scenario. With the same mindset, Rahul Varma, Co-Founder and CEO, Unschool started relooking at the idea of education and learning that modern-day schooling does not equip a student with skills and competencies to become the best industry professionals. Describing the situation, Rahul says, "If we look at the history of the education system in India, a person who studied for a particular profession went on to work and build a career around what he studied until his retirement. On the other hand, the world is growing so fast today - we talk about having a new civilization on Mars or reaching the moon and the stars, that the skills required from a person by the industry and the world is also rapidly accelerating. You need to have practical exposure and important skills up your sleeve to stay ahead and have a bright future. In contrast, the education system and its syllabus are not growing and adapting as fast. Furthermore, NITI Aayog (National Institute for Transforming India) states that the population of India is going to be 45% youth by the year 2025, but shockingly the employment rate is seen at less than 50%. Therefore, it's imperative for organizations and startups like us to step up and provide the right platforms for students to learn and build a bright future for themselves. This is why I took the decision to start Unschool."

A Chance to Select Courses from Endless Options
As a National Operations Head for AIESEC in India and a UN SDSN Youth Solutions member, Rahul Varma and Narayanan S, Co-Founder at Unschool traveled different countries and interacted with a lot of students to understand their methods of education and the similar problems that existed elsewhere. Realizing their requirements, they designed the curriculum integrating courses in technology, management, and design. "Basically, we give an end-to-end 360-degree wholesome learning experience to the students which make our courses unique from other MOOC platforms. With almost cent percent

completion rate, we have been able to provide customized learning experience to 2000+ students. Relating to that, in a world where learning only comes from our formative years in school and college, Unschool is the new, easy, and definitive path for keeping up with the 21st century. It is the platform where you can finally stop trying to fit in a system crafted for the masses and learn in a unique way that brings out the best version of you. Correspondingly, it is a platform for everyone who has the knowledge to share or a skill to teach, to coach inspired individuals wanting to learn. We plan on having courses as unconventional as Cooking, Playing the Guitar, Personal fitness and more," asserts Rahul.

"With an aim to reinvent learning, Unschool provides a self-paced platform with lifelong access to courses with one-to-one mentorship, assuring 24x7 assistance and guaranteed internship opportunities to every student"

Providing self-paced learning options, Unschool makes learning available anytime, assuring 24*7 assistance to every doubt. Along with this, students get lifelong access to Unschool community and internship opportunities. "Coming from engineering background, in my second year of study, I realized engineering is not my cup of tea. Instead, I felt business administration more interesting. However, due to societal stigma, I couldn't change my field. Now, for Unschool students, I'm providing the option to switch courses. Learning this way makes them skillful and knowledgeable," states Rahul. Additionally, Unschool delivers workshops to the students, where they deliver online mentorship for minor and major projects. "We also started online plus offline hybrid training program, where students are allowed to study online and attend weekend classes in Hyderabad. Besides, if we get permission, we conduct on-campus training programs for colleges and universities," adds Rahul.

Showcasing Talent at International Stages
Because of its ingenious approach in various competitions, Unschool has received recognition in international forums and is present across 10+ cities and 300+ colleges. "We participated in a business plan competition held in Nepal by Embassy of India, Government of India and emerged victoriously. The Prime Minister of Nepal awarded us for showcasing excellent B-Plan," elucidates Rahul. He further speaks, "Amidst teaching the students and maintaining

education quality here at Unschool, have given one motivational talk in TEDx too. Like me, you will find other teachers at Unschool have a lot of experience at major international stands. Altogether, we create a pleasant and trouble-free learning ambiance. Not only the teachers, but there are the likes of associate vice president, chief marketing officers and chief operating officers at Unschool, who are responsible for success in a short period of time."

At the time of drawing the future roadmap for Unschool, Rahul said that he wants his grandmother to join Unschool as a culinary teacher. He has other plans for starting personal fitness classes, drawing classes, musical courses, and many more. "Surely, we are receiving more at least 10,000 paid customers by the end of the year. Along with that, a few NGOs have approached us to provide free courses to the underprivileged section of the society, which we already started at the time of inception," clarifies Rahul. Unschool is looking beyond the business world and driving the online education process on self mapped out ways. In the coming days, Unschool is destined to revolutionize education paradigm in India through its regularly updated courses and learner-based approach. By now, Unschool has given hope of acquiring skills to a major number of students and are on the course of making Indian economy better through thoughtful education.

Narayanan S, Co-Founder and CEO
Narayanan is a young entrepreneur and a youth leadership enthusiast, having held leadership spaces for students across the world. As the Country Director at AIESEC in Nepal and Head of Marketing at an EduTravelstartup, Narayanan is an SDG advocate who aims to eradicate the existing problems in the education system in India and beyond.

Rahul Varma, Co-Founder and CEO
An Engineer by education and a Social Entrepreneur by passion and profession, Rahul Varma has been part of the EduTech Industry for more than 3 years and spotted several identifiable problems in the Education system. He is also a TEDx speaker and has been the National Head of Operations for AIESEC in India. Being a victim of such a big problem himself, Rahul also interacted with students from various countries and incepted Unschool to change this situation and provide a platform that aims at Reinventing learning, the way we know it.