TikTok Democratizes eLearning With the Launch of the #EduTok Program

tiktok-democratizes-elearning-with-the-launch-of-the-edutok-program

NEW DELHI, 18 October, 2019: TikTok, the world's leading destination for short-form video content, today announced the launch of the #EduTok Program, a multi-phased integrated initiative aligned with the wider objective of democratizing learning for the Indian digital community on the platform.

#EduTok has witnessed a great user response since its inception. To date, over 10 million pieces of content were created and shared using the #EduTok hashtag, which has garnered over 48 billion views and has been shared over 1.8 billion times on TikTok.

Keeping in mind the larger benefits of Digital Learning, #EduTok is an effort to further highlight TikTok's commitment to propel India's creative economy and its contribution in the lives of digital natives.

Taking learning online to offline with the #EduTok Mentorship Program

Through this initiative, TikTok forges a collaboration with leading social enterprises, Josh Talks and The/Nudge Foundation to launch a mentorship program. The program is aimed at supporting first-time Internet users to gain knowledge by giving them access to high-quality educational content created by TikTok creators and educational organizations for millions of TikTok's users who are willing to learn.

As part of this mentorship program, Josh Talks will organise 25 #EduTok workshops where 5,000 creative individuals will be shortlisted and invited to attend a hands-on learning workshop delivered by an existing and popular #EduTok creator. For the workshops, The/Nudge Foundation will also tailor-make content for these young individuals covering critical topics such as Soft Skills, Skill Development, Identity Building, Job Readiness and Career Planning. The workshops will be organized over six months starting from October 2019 until March 2020.

The workshops will be held across six states that include Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Jammu. Each workshop will accommodate up to 200 users and will be conducted in the states' regional languages with popular TikTok creators who have impressed the audience with their inspiring content around motivation, language skills, health and fitness, respectively.

Exchanging perspectives on the future of learning in the age of Digital India

TikTok unveiled the #EduTok Program at an event in New Delhi today, to highlight and discuss the relevance of learning in the age of smartphones. Experts participating in this shift also came together to discuss the increasing appetite for online educational content. Participants included the following representatives:

  • Aveg Agarwal, Senior Vice President, Toppr
  • Supriya Paul, Co-founder and Director, Josh Talks
  • Sophie Choudry, Actor and Fitness Icon
  • Saurabh Adeeb, Head of Programs and Initiatives, The Nudge/Foundation
  • Dr. Animesh, Popular #EduTok Creator

Together they spoke about the current landscape, different formats in education, benefits of online learning, the flexibility that comes along with eLearning and how this shift is helping mentors in reaching students at the grassroot level.

Nitin Saluja, Director, Public Policy, TikTok India said, "Education is meant to involve a process of collaboration and co-creation. As TikTok's most impactful campaign in India to date, #EduTok has enabled an active exchange of knowledge and skills, which has brought about a shift in the consumption of educational content online. The #EduTok Program is TikTok's effort in bringing innovation in the education industry by democratising learning. The #EduTok Mentorship program is aimed at leveraging TikTok's reach across 6 states with the lower literacy rates. We are thankful to our partners who have joined hands with us in this mission and are excited to make #EduTok a phenomenon in the world of education."

Atul Satija, Founder & CEO, The/Nudge Foundation said, "Digital education is becoming a critical tool in the overall education framework to support new learning approaches, and to bridge the gap between industry demand and the skill ecosystem. A platform such as TikTok effectively optimizes learning opportunities, as it offers access to a variety of tools, all under one roof, therefore providing a fulfilling learning experience. The motivation behind the Mentorship Program is to equip our future workforce with relevant and cutting-edge ideas to drive lasting, widespread change. We are very excited to get an opportunity to collaborate with TikTok and Josh Talks on driving this initiative forward."

Promoting e-Learning on TikTok through Strategic Partnerships

Along with the mentorship program, key educational technology companies such as Toppr, Made Easy and GradeUp have also joined TikTok to deliver subject-focussed content for the platform. This collaboration will further give TikTok's community of over 200 million users an opportunity to learn and grow as individuals and benefit from educational content available on the platform, in various formats, across categories and languages.

Aveg Agarwal, Senior Vice President at Toppr said, "It is encouraging to see that organizations are harnessing digital tools to transform India's education industry. Toppr is happy to collaborate with campaigns such as #EduTok and do meaningful additions that can help students learn better. Partnering with TikTok is our effort to continuously improve pedagogy and democratize the access to better learning."

Gunjan Taneja, popular fitness creator on TikTok said, "Campaigns such as #EduTok shine a spotlight on how one should never give up the quest to learn and how one can succeed if they have the grit and determination to work towards their goals. We are very excited as well as humbled to be a part of the #EduTok Program. My fellow creators and I are looking forward to training young brilliant minds and motivating them to work towards their passion with utmost dedication."

TikTok empowers users to discover, create and share meaningful content that matters by equipping them with cutting-edge technology and easy-to-use tools accessible from their mobile devices. To get a dose of #EduTok inspiration. Download TikTok on iOS and Google Play.