Amazon, apart from being the biggest e-commerce giant on the planet, also operates a vast cloud network (AWS), an online pharmacy, and several other offerings. Today, the company has ticked another check box with the launch of ‘Amazon Academy‘, a platform that will help Indian students prepare for the Joint Entrance Exam that takes place every year in the country.
The JEE is an exam that helps students secure a place into the many engineering universities in India, including the IITs, which are on the top of the chain. However, many of those who live in remote areas and do not have access to coaching classes suffer, and often have to move from their homes to prepare for the exam.
With Amazon Academy, the company aims to eliminate this hassle, and bring world class learning right on your phone.
“The online preparation offering will equip students with in-depth knowledge and practice routines required for the JEE, through curated learning material, live lectures and comprehensive assessments in Math, Physics and Chemistry,” Amazon said in a blog post.
The platform will contain a wide variety of JEE preparatory resources, including mock tests with over 5,000 handpicked questions with hints and detailed step by step solutions for practice.
The company hopes to provide a similar experience to the actual JEE test right on your phone, to ensure that every student on Amazon Academy is exam ready.
Apart from this, it has the usual live sessions, allowing students to engage with expert faculty, learn concepts, and clarify doubts in real-time.
Also, since Amazon is a technology led platform, it will allow users to have a better insight into their progress by providing them their All-India Rank for the respective mock test and assess their test performance through personalized reports highlighting chapter-wise time and strength analysis. Students will be able to track their progress over time, which is a huge advantage over conventional coaching classes where it’s not as clear, “and get detailed insights on the overall test-taking strategy.”
Amol Gurwara, Director, Education at Amazon India, said, “Amazon Academy aims to bring high quality, affordable education to all, starting with those preparing for engineering entrance examinations. Our mission is to help students achieve their outcomes while also empowering educators and content partners reach millions of students. Our primary focus has been on content quality, deep learning analytics and student experience. This launch will help engineering aspirants prepare better and achieve the winning edge in JEE.”
The platform is free, and will remain so, at least for the “near future.”
This is not the first time big tech has invested into India’s education system. Facebook and Google have both undertaken similar initiatives, and partnered with the Central Board of Secondary Education last year.
