1. EdupreneursDr.A.Prabaharan Ph.D
Research Director
Public Action

2. Background
• Edupreneurs as a concept is yet to takeoff in the
academic world
• But it is in casual circulation for the last twenty-five
years especially in the United States and other
developed countries
• International Academy for Educational
Entrepreneurship mentions edupreneur on and off
under the broad theme of educational
entrepreneurship
• Some other institutes club edupreneurs under the
category of social entrepreneurship. However there is
no elaboration about the specifics of edupreneurship

3. Definition
• The concept of Edupreneur cannot be understood without tracing
its mother word entrepreneur’s growth in the lexicon
• Historical sources say that the Irish political economist Richard
Cantilton coined the word entrepreneur in 1730
• According to the Webster dictionary an entrepreneur is a person
who organizes and manages an enterprise with considerable risks”
• Edupreneurs can be defined as educational entrepreneurs who
plan, open and successfully operate educational services. In this
venture edupreneurs thwart legal and illegal hurdles with
consistent risks and crisis management skills. The enterprise
created by an edupreneur can be for profit or non-profit nature.
But with the aim of reaping a rich social harvest
edupreneurs, innovate their educational services.

4. India’s Need
• To distribute the education services
equitably, edupreneurs are needed desperately in India.
• The world can take advantage of India’s cost effective
education if it is supplemented with desirable
infrastructural facilities.
• Neighbhouring Asian countries where there is no stability
of government that in turn affects the educational
system are hunting for the Indian educational services.
• Unless a responsible and round the clock response is
given the forced out students from stressed out countries
will opt for other destinations.

5. Classification of Edupreneurs
• Broadly, edupreneurs can be divided into two types –
public and private.
• The former is State while the latter is a private trust
or society. Central, state and local governments can
be categorized as public edupreneurs.
• Educationists from social service
organisations, religion, business
houses, media, political parties and unrecognized
sector fall in the domain of private edupreneurs.

6. Indian Triviality
• In India individuals are not allowed to run educational
institutions because of the national spirit that
education is for non-profit. Hence a trust or society is
only eligible to receive the mandatory license to open
educational institutions.
• Although individuals cannot open schools or
colleges, many people operate illegally. The institutes
run without mandatory government permission are
commonly called unrecognized institutes. The number
of such unrecognized institutes is in high proportion
that is referred as unrecognized sector here.

7. Broader Classification
• Religious edupreneurs
• Social edupreneurs
• Political edupreneurs
• Corporate edupreneurs
• Techno edupreneurs

8. Ten Traits of Edupreneurs
• Passion for education change
• Tech Savvy
• Crisis Manager
• Multi-tasking
• Micro Management

9. Ten Traits of Edupreneurs
• Human Resources
• Pedagogical Innovations
• Hurdle Jumper
• Self Guidance
• High Creativity

10. Edupreneurs in History
• The 4000 years old history of Indian education has
undergone major changes. It shows clearly the shift of
education from private to public domain. According to
Pawar (2004: iv), the genesis of Indian education can
be divided into five distinct periods.
• Vedic period (4000 – 1000 B.C)
• Buddist period (1600 – 1000 B.C)
• Medieval period (1200 –1800 A.D)
• British period (1600 – 1947)
• Post Independent period (1947 – till today)