Ivory Coast-based startup Oschool is knocking down barriers to accessibility in the education space with its virtual learning platform that combines tech with human input.
Founded in 2016, Oschool has been through a number of iterations but is now established as a virtual learning platform, giving its users access to online courses and seminars that have been put together by professionals, and priced for the African market.
“Our courses are divided into virtual schools. What makes the site flexible is its ease of use by the different stakeholders – students and trainers,” Adams Tehoua, the startup’s co-founder and chief operating officer (COO), told Disrupt Africa.
There are plenty of ed-tech platforms like this across Africa, but Tehoua says most of them remove the human side of classroom instruction.
“When a student takes an online course, and he or she has a problem, he or she often has to fend for themselves, or wait for a few days before the trainer responds with a message,” he said.
Oschool, however, provides live lessons, one-to-one, allowing students to fully understand the concepts they are learning. This approach has taken the self-funded startup quite a long way. It sells direct to users, and so far has over 1,000 students regularly attending its free or paid courses.
“Our acquisition technique is centered on providing unconditional value. We have a set of trainings available, which thanks to our training partners are for the most part free,” Tehoua said. Oschool monetises from the rest, providing students with practical training in fields such as programming and design. Tehoua is ambitious for the startup’s future.
“Oschool aims to be, in the next three years, one of five companies in the sector of online training in Ivory Coast with value-added services for its customers,” he said.
