A British Pakistani entrepreneur and IT expert has launched an online school, free of cost, in a bid to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal regarding education.
Ali Latif has launched ‘The Online School’ (3-lance.co.uk) from London to deliver online teaching for the past six weeks. Thus far, the school has delivered over 120 hours of education to students across the world.
The school is providing quality free education to students from class one till A-levels, from ages ranging five-18 years.
So far, over 1,000 students in the UK and over 500 students from developing countries like Pakistan, Zambia and Namibia have benefitted from these classes, which are conducted by teachers belonging to the best schools in Britain.
These teachers, all of whom volunteer their time and effort for a noble cause, are trained and certified by the Department of Education, graduated from various UK universities and have a great breadth of teaching experience at private and state schools in London and outside.
Speaking exclusively to Geo News, Ali Latif said that he decided to launch ‘The Online School’ after the lockdown brought up new challenges and also new opportunities for various communities to come together to live and work in new ways.
Ali Latif said: “They say the pen is mightier than the sword. And COVID-19 has brought about a unique opportunity where I was in a position to create something to prove exactly that.
If children in the UK can learn online by accessing curriculumbased lessons from home using a device and internet, then why not children from every part of the world. There’s no discrimination when it comes to education for children. I want every child, no matter where they are to receive great quality education and we won’t stop until we achieve exactly that.”
Latif said that the idea came from realising the impact that the lockdown was going to have on the youth and their future. “We, as responsible adults, need to invest in our future. Hence The Online School was born.”
Ali Latif, who has a background in education and charitable works, shared his vision about the future of education which he felt was moving towards online since it was cheaper, more efficient and convenient for both students and teachers.
“With online education, I can have children from all around the world in one place. I can ensure a child from a village in Zambia receives the same great quality of education as someone in London. And that is beautiful. Yes, there are some benefits of physical teaching, but quite frankly as technology is developing we are getting closer to creating a more realistic classroom environment online” Ali said.
