In 1988, as a 7-year-old navigating a turbulent education system amidst a military coup, I experienced firsthand the challenges of accessing quality learning. Fast forward to 2021, as a mother of a 7-year-old and an EdTech entrepreneur, I faced similar challenges but from a different perspective—working to solve systemic educational inequities under the shadow of another military coup.
This talk reflects on the stark parallels between two historical moments, highlighting the persistent global challenge of mismatched resources—millions of students lacking access to quality teachers and tools. With the population of young learners growing rapidly in developing nations, the need for scalable, tech-driven educational solutions has never been greater.
Drawing on experiences from founding 360ed, a mission-driven EdTech startup, I'll explore how emerging technologies like AR and AI are democratizing access to learning. Despite political instability, disruption, and displacement, the mission to empower over half a million learners in underserved communities continues. Together, let's envision a future where education transcends adversity and geography.
The global challenge of learning is a massive mismatch of quality teachers and students. With a population explosion of promising young people in developing countries, a critical need for democratizing access to quality learning tools. Let us join a journey of a headstrong teacher who was once a learner with dyslexia and ADHD, and sets herself on a moonshot mission of learning. Being inspired by the SU mentors, peers, and lectures, an educator with a policy background suddenly jumped into the startup world and built a team in the most underdeveloped country to bridge the gap of massive mismatch by building cutting-edge learning technology products from scratch. Disrupted by a series of curve balls including the coup d'etat, she fled from her home county for personal safety, yet continues to democratize learning access to over half a million learners in a place where over ten million children are deprived of formal questions for two years in a row.