Taking education to marginalised digitally

It is crucial to provide opportunities to the people who are left behind so that they can flourish and play a role in developing the country, according to Ayman Sadiq, founder and CEO of 10 Minute School.

He was speaking at the 20th Bangladesh Business Awards ceremony at the capital's Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel.

Sadiq shared stories about how 10 Minute School and its largely free educational contents are changing the lives of students, including the underprivileged, from across the country by helping them get into the best universities in Bangladesh.

"Recently, I attended an event at a school. After delivering my speech, a student took the microphone and said he knows me despite being blind. He can recognise my voice since he had listened to my lectures posted at 10 Minute School platforms," he said.

Sadiq then spoke of a student he had a conversation with recently. The student had no access to good learning materials as he lived in a remote village. Now, he is admitted to the University of Dhaka and according to him, it is because of 10 Minute School's lectures. Moreover, he was the only student in his village to get admitted to a university.

"Such words from youths tremendously encourage me but, most importantly, these stories give a testament that if anyone gets an opportunity, they can prosper," he added.

With a mission to democratise education for all in Bangladesh, 10 Minute School was jointly founded by Sadiq and Abdullah Abyad Raied in 2015.

At the end of last year, 10 Minute School had raised $2 million in seed funding from Surge, Sequoia Capital, a rapid scale-up programme in India, to increase investment in product and technology.

It had experienced an unprecedented twelvefold business growth in its platform in 2021 during the pandemic. And the number of its employees stands at 300 as of 2021, up from 60 by the end of 2020.

The year 2021 marked a significant year of growth for 10 Minute School, with more than 9 million new learners joining the platform, 8 million learning hours delivered and over 17,000 new videos added to its learning ecosystem.