EDUCOMP BUYS STAKE IN A-PLUS EDUCATION SOLUTIONS

Shreerupa Mitra, Bangalore
Financial Chronicle The Hindu Business Line

Educomp Solutions, an e-learning educational solutions firm, has acquired a strategic stake in A-Plus Education Solutions. The educational firm will invest Rs 10.75 crore over the next two years to acquire a 76 percent shareholding in A-Plus.

Operating under the brand name of 'Purple Leap', A-Plus looks at improving the employability of the college students. The company strives to bridge the skill gap in the nation and has tied up with over 18 government vocational training institutes. Educomp will also work with domain experts in management, engineering, retail and other disciplines to bring about an appropriate blend of pedagogical and industry practices to these colleges.

Moreover, Educomp plans to leverage the acquisition's existing customer base to provide different types of educational services to 10 million students across the nation by 2009-2010. "We seek to mitigate the current skill and competency gap across various vocations and disciplines by leveraging technology-enabled best practices in education. Our recent step in this direction is our eTEN system, which will use telecom and satellite technology to bring best teaching talents to remote students," Sharad Agarwal, president of Educomp Vocational Business said.

Currently, there is a shortage of workplace-ready students and high cost of training. This results in a high turnover of the new recruits and also a large cost for the recruiting companies. The EduLeap (known as Purple Leap so far) career centers in the colleges will have facilities for assessment and testing, impartation of training and have strong placement partnerships with corporates, the company said.