Photo: Sheikh Mehedi Morshed

Ever thought of switching on the TV screen in front of your child and study the formulae of algebra, learn English sentence constructions and understand Bangla baekaron (grammar)? Or what if one says that s/he has been preparing for the IELTS exam with the help of YouTube videos, made in Dhaka? And that too – all in 10 minutes?

Well, studying online is not an uncommon concept and many do it all over the world. However, the 10 Minute School is definitely a one-of-a-kind platform, enabling both children and adults to learn, study and deliver.

Photos: courtesy

Founded by 24-yar-old Ayman Sadiq in the year in 2015, the 10 Minute School is the only site in Bangladesh through which students can learn from the tutorials (1,411 videos) and live classes, practice from the given quizzes and model tests (28,455 quizzes), monitor their progress, compare with their peers and others, get every single information needed which otherwise isn't available in the internet – all for  free. "Currently, we cover JSC, SSC, HSC, Admissions and skill development courses," says Ayman Sadiq, Founder and CEO of the 10 Minute School. "We have 1,411 videos with over 7 million views combined and 28,455 quizzes with over 150,000 students using our content every day. We also take live classes from our page every day."

The 10 Minute School has created raves amongst students, academicians and also the government bodies. The organisation won the Youth Award'16, DYDF Youth Icon Award'16, BRAC Manthan Digital Innovation Award'16, the Swiss Embassy Award for Social Impact, Champion's for Future Leaders' League (London), and also received an honorable mention and GIST Tech-i Global Competition (Silicon Valley, USA). The organisation was also a Country Rep and the Asian & Europe Meet'15.

The objective of the 10 Minute school is very simple – solving the problem of access to quality teachers and resources for 4 crore students who are currently enrolled in the education system, according to Ayman.

"We are already working with the government and broadcasting our classes to 2,001 training labs across the country," adds Ayman. "We are reaching out to 64 districts and activating these training labs by organising a proper workshop to train the teachers. We are also planning to take these online classes to 30,000+ multimedia classrooms, collaborating with a2i and UNDP. Robi Axiata Limited is also helping us to directly reach out to their 35 million subscriber base and supporting our operation."

Divided basically into two – the 10 Minute School LIVE and the 10 Minute School Skill Development Lab, the 10-Minute School covers lessons from classes 8-12 and also helps prepare for admission tests – public and private universities, MBA, IELTS, GRE, GMAT, BCS and many more. This school also organizes online workshops and sessions to develop skills in Software, Extra Curricular Activities and also helps develop soft skills like business speaking or how to write a CV. Courses that are popular amongst students are University courses such as Marketing, Finance and Entrepreneurship.

"We also have two Facebook pages where we answer queries through our messenger BOT," says Ayman. "We have automated this process as we get thousands of messages and queries everyday."

A fantastic initiative indeed by Ayman and his young team of volunteers and professionals – and such initiatives are needed urgently in the country, especially when components such as traffic tends to slow everyone down – thus slowing down the work pace as well.

"As we grow older we tend to become skeptical and focus more on the obstacles," says Ayman to the young people of Bangladesh. "Be optimistic, find your passion and while you are still a student, just do what you do best and enjoy the ride."

Do check out www.10minuteschool.com and the highly engaging live classes at www.facebook.com/10minuteschool/