Coronavirus boosts fortunes of e-learning providers, while Hong Kong’s private tutoring industry struggles
- Hong Kong-based education app operator Snapask sees huge uptick in new users, completes Series B fundraising
- But most traditional tuition centres will not survive if classes do not resume in March, trade union representative says
The coronavirus epidemic is proving to be a mixed bag for education services providers, as authorities in Hong Kong and China extend closure of schools to contain the deadly outbreak.
While online education providers are riding on a surge in student users and investor interest, the city’s thriving multimillion-dollar after-school tutoring industry is hurting as students stay home, with a trade union representative saying most institutions will not survive if school suspension continues into late March.
Snapask Inc, a Hong Kong-based operator of online learning website and mobile app that offers tutoring services to students across the region, is one beneficiary of the rare opportunities brought by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Students registered over the past two months account for nearly a third of the 1.3 million new users the company accumulated over the past year, while the average time students spent watching course videos on its platform jumped almost 40 per cent during the period, according to Timothy Yu Yau-him, founder of Snapask.
“Schools are suspended and students have to stay at home, but exams are not cancelled, they are still happening from April to June. So this is a very big driver,” said Yu in a recent interview.