Category : Best Start-Up Innovation
WINNER
Innovation Title : 10 Minute School
Organization : 10 Minute School
Background
There are 43 million learners in Bangladesh. These learners face two major problems:
■ Geographical and financial barriers reduce access to quality education
■ Learners do not have proper skills training to prepare them for jobs
There are 25 million students enrolled in formal education in Bangladesh, but only a handful of them can afford and access to quality education and after-school tutoring because of the lack of good quality teachers and limited affordability. More than two million young people enter the job market every year. About 46% of the total unemployed youth are university graduates.
10 Minute School (www.10minuteschool.com), the largest education technology company of Bangladesh, was founded in 2015 to bridge these gaps. The platform provides academic content and skills training to more than 2 million students every day. This platform is the gateway for the 43 million youths of the country to access quality education and skills training from any corner of Bangladesh.
Objectives
The objective of 10 Minute School is to ensure uninterrupted education across all demographic, economic and geographic arenas of Bangladesh through
■ Removing the geographical barrier of education so that students all over Bangladesh can access learning materials anytime, from anywhere
■ Making educational solutions affordable.
■ Enabling life-long learning through providing solutions that enable learning from an early age, to academics, university admission, test preparation and upskilling.
The Idea
The idea was to build digital platforms, i.e. a website (www.10minuteschool.com) and a mobile application (10ms.app), so that learners could easily access all the learning solutions provided by 10 Minute School through a single account. Classes, exams and learning materials are readily available on the platforms so that the students can learn at their own pace. Signing in to 10 Minute School’s website or app means one account could unfold countless learning solutions that will equip the students educationally for the academic and professional journey of the learners.
Execution
■ Built a website and a mobile application for the learners. Today the platform has 25,000+ classes and skills courses prepared by some of Bangladesh’s best instructors and professionals. It provides a personalized learning journey for students with the opportunity to test their learning from a bank of 50,000+ quizzes additional resources like flashcards, audiobooks, and notes.
■ Created SSC and HSC preparation courses in 2021 and around 61,000+ students are enrolled in these courses because they are easily accessible and affordable.
■ Introduced industry relevant courses for the upskilling segment to bridge the gap between aspiring learners and their dream jobs.
■ Introduced a new product – Online Batch to enable students to get after school tutoring without the hassle of commuting. The classes of these batches are held in the app, which minimizes the distraction created by the internet and social media.
Result and Impact
■ 10 Minute School has learners from all across the country, 54% of our learners come from the suburban and rural areas, which has made them able to remove the geographic barriers between the students and quality education.
■ 10 Minute School has received $2M seed funding by one of the largest venture capitals of the world, Sequoia Capital which has confirmed their impact and potential to impact the education sector of Bangladesh.
■ In 2021 alone, 10 Minute School delivered 8 million learning hours through both real-time and recorded classes that students received and benefitted from.
■ The 10 Minute School app (10ms.app) has surpassed 3 million users who learn daily with the app to progress in their academic and professional careers.