Despite taking several measures, such as switching entirely to an online medium, the coaching industry continues to struggle to cope with the impact caused by the pandemic. A number of small and medium scaled institutes have closed their doors, but JK Shah Classes has not only managed to stay afloat but also thrive. “At JKSC, we have emerged stronger and sharper after the pandemic. We have learnt that technology is making strong inroads in everything we do and within JKSC we have embraced all technology disruption ahead of the curve,” says JK Shah who is a living example of pioneering the hybrid education model- both online and offline.
JK Shah, was in his twenties and had only recently cleared his own CA, when he began the institute in 1982 in a single classroom near Charni Road Station. Today, he has over 65 centres throughout India and has seen lakhs of commerce students achieve their career goals. The 39-year-old commerce coaching institute has churned out over 200 rankers for CS since 2014 and over 1800 rankers for CA since 2001. Despite the pandemic, they produced 95 All India Rank holders in 2021 and kept their legacy alive by delivering CS and CA rank holders.
“Within 10 days of lockdown imposition in March 2020, we opened the doors to one of the largest digital reservoirs of education content to our students. The same year, we launched our online vertical, where we have tailored our products to suit every student’s needs. We have excelled at the art of hybrid lectures as we settle into the new normal. We took the new normal in our stride which allowed us to reach students in more than 1000 cities across the country,” says J.K Shah.
The coaching institute struck a skilful balance between face-to-face classes and online classes by tapping into the students’ ever-changing needs and recognising the most effective method to impart education. “We are constantly innovating with our education delivery models, and we come up with newer forms of hybrid models every academic year. We were the pioneers of launching hybrid education in a form where low-touch topics were delivered online and high-involvement or difficult courses were delivered face-to-face to the students in the last academic period,” he adds.
With the pandemic receding J.K Shah Classes has moved towards investing in new and emerging technologies while simultaneously revolutionising their teaching pedagogy to suit the changed delivery pattern.“The adoption of emerging technologies to create a near face-to-face, virtual classroom experience in the online world has become an inseparable part of our classes,” says JK Shah.
Professor J.K Shah fits the mould of the modern Indian ‘edupreneur’, who never ceases to adopt new mediums and constructive methods to enrich the quality brought to a classroom. He goes the extra mile to ensure a delightful learning experience. His ingenuity and hard work have helped him make a mark in the lives of his students. “We hold the dream and the vision to redefine the learning experience for all the students of India across all the streams of education,” he adds. This is the embodiment of the never say die spirit that helped the coaching class innovate in the face of adversity.
