Leading education content provider company Educomp Solutions, which is a stock market listed company, currently serves over 3.6 million users across India, US and Singapore. It launched its online learning initiative through a portal, www.mathguru.com in July last year. The portal also addresses students studying in standards 6 to 12 and helps them solve their maths-related queries. However, the payment model involves an annual subscription of Rs. 2,023.

"We have 15,000 registered users on Mathguru and are expecting the number to reach 25,000 by March 2008," Shantanu Prakash, CEO, Educomp India Private Limited told Hindustan Times.

While Mathguru is specific for one subject, students looking for guidance on solving queries related to physics, chemistry, general science and French and competitive examinations such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), IIT's entrance exam or medical college entrance exams have www.1earninghoutcom. Here, a six-month course for medical entrance costs Rs 7,500. For other subjects, the cost varies between Rs 1,000, Rs 1,500 or Rs 2,500 per month for 10 sessions (of one hour each) per subject depending on whether a student wants to study in a group of three, two or individually.

Another player in the category is Bangalore-based TutorVista, which addresses overseas markets. After the launch of the portal www.tutorvista.com in 2005 and serving the US markets for over two years and the UK market for three months, Tutor Vista will now be offering its services in India with academic course content for CBSE and ICSE students in classes 6 to 10. The cost of 10 sessions per month for students studying in classes 6-8 is Rs 499 per subject and for classes 9 and 10 it is Rs 999. The subjects covered are mathematics, English, physics, chemistry and biology At Tutorvista.com, students speak to their teachers using Voice over Internet Protocol technology, with headsets and microphones.

Win-win for teachers
While online support for education is helpful to students, it also pays the teachers comparatively better money than what they traditionally get in schools.

"Online assistance for studies is a very good initiative. It will help a student do selfstudy and get online help as and when queries arise as compared with a coaching class where one has to study as decided by the tutor. However, one should make sure that the teachers involved are subject specific and well gualified." Says Anjali Saxena, a teacher at Noida's Amity International School.

At Extramarks.com, the starting salary for a teacher is Rs 12,000 as against Rs 6,000 approximately that a trained graduate teacher (TGT) gets paid in a school. More experienced academicians get paid around Rs 22,000 at Extramarks.com whereas a post graduate teacher (PGT) makes around Rs 16,000 even after a decade of experience.

The company has specified working hours and offers a pick-up and drop facility for teachers. "We have 40 teachers on-board at present and will be hiring 500 teachers within the next nine months," Ajay Kulshrestha, co-founder: Extramarks.com told Hindustan Times. Teachers working for Learninghour com and Mathguru.com earn anywhere between Rs 150 to Rs 250 per hour. TutorVista employs 600 teachers across 23 cities in India.