An Amazon for Educational Services

AM Shareef

Kerala teachers are considered to be among the finest in the world. They have been teaching in various parts of the world with a concentration in other states in India, Nepal and Bhutan over the years(have you read Novels by G Balachandran?). They bring to the table good content, and a good pedagogic style. But more than these, they are willing to go the hard work way to prepare for their classes and in turn subtly inspire students to hard work the happy way.

And potential students galore across the world.

Let us now step back and survey another larger theme.

What succeeds these days are networking ideas. You provide the robust platform for people to network.

One such network is Facebook where people network to sell their egos. The other is Amazon where people network to buy and sell things. Still another is Spotify where people network for buying and selling music. Then there are Uber, OLX and much more. Some of these, such as Spotify as was noted by Tim Berners Lee in his autobiography last year, potentially provide for virtuous cycles and help humanity progress.

What is not available among these and what the world badly needs is a Network for Students and Teachers. Where Teachers make available lessons - direct one to one lessons, to prospective students. Yes, an Amazon for Educational Services, so to say.

Coming back to the Keralite teachers, they can literally take the world forward by leaps and bounds if only their talent is made available world over. What we need to do this is to put in place a robust platform that can provide the back end to run this process. Let us examine what this precisely mean.

1. A technology backbone: A good application that can connect teachers on the one end and students on the other, a secure and high capacity server, a network(preferably one that does not use world wide web but a dedicated intranet so that children are saved not only from distractions but also from cyber threats).
2. A protocol where teachers are selected carefully(they will have to satisfy tests on knowledge, teaching skills, online teaching skills and caring skills), rated diligently(using a mix of feedback but more significantly by peer reviews).
3. A protocol for teachers to make available themselves(topic-class they can handle, hours(and when) at their disposal). This can make use of an Uber like scheme.
4. A distinct sub culture where the teachers are revered not only by the students but also by the platform. This is not a place where the buyer buys things as in a market, but where children reverentially learn lessons from their gurus.
5. The platform will insist on certain minimum standards in terms of content, style, and feedback.

(Cont..)

©AM Shareef

This is an idea developed by AM Shareef. If you wish to discuss more on this, you may please email shareef.am@protonmail.com