With the era of “E-books” and “online reading,” came the extinction of “the necessity” of reading books. If we really think about it - is this good or bad? Nowadays everything is free on the internet. As a result, the ease with which we can find just about anything on the internet has made us undeniably reliant on the world wide web. Students are now learning and developing educational and extracurricular skills through online support rather than going to training centres. Even though some would say the physical presence of a student in a classroom helps develop the students’ interactive as well as academic skills, we cannot deny the fact that online learning saves a lot of money and time. Especially when it comes to those students who struggle with financial constraints, online learning can act as the ultimate saviour.
Dhaka Tribune recently talked to Ayman Sadiq, a student of IBA and the founder of 10 minute school, a thoroughly thought-out website that helps students access resourceful and graspable lessons and courses for different university admission exams.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. I love marketing although I’m a finance major. I dream of becoming a teacher, motivational speaker and an entrepreneur in the future. In a way I guess I’m living my dream as I have been teaching in a renowned coaching centre for the past three years or so. Moreover, I just founded my 3rd start up called EtoJoss.com, an entertainment website, partnering with my school friend Salman Muqtadir. I research on happiness and optimism more than I research on any of my term papers. Idea discussions fascinate me and I just love to talk about dreams even when I’m having a chat with a complete stranger. What is the aim/purpose of 10 minute school? Creating a free education network where people can learn, practice and track their progress in a utopian manner is what I have always dreamt of. The purpose is to break the geographic and economic barrier in terms of getting quality education and recreating the entire experience of learning with added benefit. I know it sounds odd but I do believe that if we try, we can actually make the educational content more alive and fun-filled.
What made you start this initiative? I was fascinated with the idea of teaching just after I started teaching my students in batches. The very idea of motivating someone and creating a positive dent in his life made me even more interested in teaching. So I used to help my students online as well and soon figured out that there should be a more convenient approach for delivering educational content with ease and efficiency. Inspired by Khan Academy and a few YouTube tutorial channels, I planned to create a platform where people could get all types of support for local courses in our country. I’m a wannabe designer and it was easy for me to visualise my idea and give it life. Soon I started sharing my thoughts and many people encouraged me to go forward with it. So there I was, a 2nd year student, with a huge dream ready to fail but ready to give it a go as well.
How do you think this programme will affect the students/ how do you plan on making a change? Rahim, who just finished his HSC exam from Comilla, won’t need to worry about financial constraints and come to Dhaka for his BUET coaching classes. Anika, an SSC student, won’t need to worry about going to that distant coaching centre everyday. Rahim, a small job holder, will finally appear for his BCS/MBA admission test as he got perfect guidance through his mobile phone. Nehal, currently living in a distant village in Rangpur, might just score a band score of 7 in his IELTS test. There is no doubt that there are thousands of others with different names but with the same stories. You get the idea, right?
What is your end goal? Where do you see 10 minute school headed?
Bangladesh is the 8th largest population in the entire world, which in turn means that we are facing the 8th biggest education problem in the entire globe. We truly look at this see this project as the nation's saviour - one that saves our country from this constant struggle. Free education doesn’t have a fixed demographic or geographic boundary and hence we see 10 Minute School reaching out to millions of people all over the country.
What are your future plans?
I’m planning something sustainable so that I don’t need to go through a break-up with 10 Minute School. Currently I’m in search of companies and organisations which can provide the much needed financial support for this project to scale up. The overall plan is to give everyone access to free education, penetrate deeper into schools, colleges and eventually make sure even people without internet get access to all these resources.
