In a country as diverse as India, English gets the highest billing. It is universally accepted as the language of choice for higher education around the country, for most official documentation, and for nearly all kinds of professional dealings. In metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, the environment is more conducive to learning the English language from a young age but in Tier II and III towns, that is not the case.
Raminder and Sonam Sandhu.
This is why Raminder Sandhu and Sonam Sandhu, founders of IELTS Made Easy, decided to increase the reach of English language education, by making it accessible to all children around the country and abroad. They do this through their online IELTS coaching classes and Youtube channel.
Sonam studied at an English Medium school yet did not know how to speak the language till she embarked on her entrepreneurial journey of corporate gifting. Having lost her father at the young age of 11, she felt compelled to achieve professional success from a young age and was aware that knowledge of the English language was imperative for that. Hence, she made it her mission. Raminder, on the other hand, studied at a Punjabi Medium School and faced tremendous difficulty when he moved to an Engineering College, where all the subjects were taught in English. At first, barely passing, he took the help of friends to improve. When he landed a lucrative job in the corporate sector, he saw that his growth was hindered because he did not speak English as well as his colleagues. That was when he decided to learn the language in earnest.
After reaching a certain level, both Sonam and Raminder began to teach the English language and in 2018, launched their own venture—IELTS Made Easy. At first functioning entirely offline, their business faced many challenges. The biggest of these was the lack of high-quality, good teachers. Most teachers had a 6 or 6.5 band when the basic requirement for most students is to achieve a 7+ band. Despite the low quality of the teachers, the Sandhus settled on them because there was intense competition in the coaching business, and an acute lack of teachers, many of whom would abandon jobs after a month or two on the promise of a higher salary elsewhere.
“This is why we stopped our offline model and switched to online. This model allowed us to change our hiring policy and now we only take 8777 band teachers, which means they all must have at least an 8 in the listening module and three 7s in addition to that. We are proud to say that we have the best teachers from around India and international countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and others. We have 25 teachers at the moment,” explains Raminder.
This policy helped their venture make a mark for itself in the competitive industry of coaching. They are also one of the only companies to offer one-on-one classes at an affordable price. Sonam shares, “Most other coaching institutes play the bulk game, so in a single batch, they cover all modules. Every child has different abilities and different levels, but they are forced to study with others. Our one-on-one classes are our speciality. We also conduct daily live classes on our YouTube channel for free—at 12 PM and at 7 PM. These are aimed at helping those students who cannot afford to pay for classes yet have the desire to learn. They can ask questions in the chat so there is still a level of interaction between the student and teacher.”
Raminder is the one who coined the name for their business, keeping in mind their philosophy and ethos. Through their educational model and classes, they want to spread the message that learning the English language is very easy when done correctly. The next step for the team is to make pre-recorded videos of classes to increase accessibility further. These recordings will come with planned homework schedules and study material so that children can learn by themselves and at their own pace.
Noor Anand Chawla pens lifestyle articles for various publications and her blog www.nooranandchawla.com. She can be reached on nooranand@gmail.com.