Bangladeshi-Indian educator Salman Khan, founder and executive director of Khan Academy, has been enlisted as one of the thinkers on Bloomberg Markets “50 Most Influential” list, published last week.
The Khan Academy capitalises on the popularity and high accessibility of technology in today’s world to address the issue of education. It aims to reach out to “anyone, anywhere” with education material free of charge.
He was listed in the “thinkers” category, which includes the likes of economist Paul Krugmanand and climate change guru Michael E Mann.
Khan, whose father was from Barisal, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and holds three degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
A hedge-fund analyst, he began his movement with the goal of tutoring his cousin over the Internet. In 2004, he began tutoring his cousin using Yahoo!’s Doodle notepad and soon realised the potential for reaching a wider audience with his material. He then proceeded to share the material on YouTube. Later he left the job and started the Khan Academy which now hosts more than 4,500 videos on various topics including Mathematics, Science, Economics, and Computer Programming.
Khan’s movement has been endorsed by Bill Gates who has referred to it as “education of the future,” according to an article published by Times of India. Gates says he uses Khan’s videos to teach his own children.