MyElimu: Making students love what seems boring

Imagine coming home from school, starting to do your homework and realising that there are a couple of things that you don’t know the answers to. Instead of waiting for that group discussion on Saturday, you go online and find a group discussion that suits you.

That is exactly what Given Edward, 19, thought could happen when he started myElimu.com, a forum website where secondary school students are able to discuss subjects that are taught in their classes and they do this through discussions which can be started by any student who is a member of myElimu.com.

Edward, 19, says that the initiative started with his personal desire to make Tanzania’s education ‘less harsh.’ “It annoys me how the education system is not friendly to students. Learning is seen as a form of punishment to many students. If you ask me, Tanzania education will do extremely well if it’s presented in T-shirts and jeans than in a suit and tie, which is its current form. So that motivated me. I know what I am talking about because I just finished high school this May,” he says.

The nineteen year-old went to primary school in Kenya where he finished Standard 7 in 2008. His O Level education was completed at Tegeta High School in Dar es Salaam and from there he was selected to join Kibasila Secondary School where he studied History, Kiswahili and Language (HKL) combination. Edward completed his A Levels this May.

The young dreamer has been an activist for a while. He is currently working with Tanzania Youth Vision Association (TYVA), a youth-led organization that was registered in 2002, as the Head of Research and Information.  Edward also works with the Youth of the United Nations Tanzania through which they organize events that shape future leaders.

“Working with these organizations has enabled me to understand youths and the challenges they face. One of the challenges I observed was how youths are rushing for technology and how the graph of internet use among youths keep rising, but still tech, or internet to be specific, hasn’t been used to help them academically at full capacity,” he says.

Edward is of the view that parents and other stakeholders keep on blaming the students for spending much time on the internet, specifically social networks such as Facebook rather than studying, but what else can they do on the internet to be interactive? “I mean, it’s not like they have any other platform where they could meet their peers.

Then I thought, how about taking education to where students are rushing to? So I created myElimu.com for that reason.

To use what youth like to make them love what seems boring. Since I can code and I’ve been coding websites for a while and I was able to create MyElimu into exactly what I wanted it to be,” explains Edward.

When Edward founded myElimu, it was just him doing everything. But with time he got a great team that helped get myElimu where it is now.  With just four months in the market, the reception has been pretty good.

Started in February this year, the forum now has 157 students registered from different schools.  Although the students have never interacted physically, Edward says plans are underway to do a Tanzania Great Debaters Competition in July that will happen outside the internet.

“The reception has exceeded the expectation,” he says adding that since myElimu does not have sponsors, they haven’t been able to conduct large-scale campaigns to make the website known.

But still, students call them from Mbeya, Iringa and other regions asking how they can be part of it. “It is really encouraging to see how the distance barrier can be overcome by proper use of technology.

Now students can share learning materials regardless of their locality.

I now see that students have been waiting for myElimu, to connect them to other students anywhere they are in the country and do discussions as if they are in the same classroom” Edward says.

How it works

myElimu.com is a forum website. Students come together to discuss subjects that are taught in their classes. Any students can start a discussion, as long as they are members of the forum.  One can become a member by visiting www.myElimu.com and click ‘register’. One can also easily register by clicking ‘register with Facebook’ which will register you to myElimu quickly by using your Facebook details. Given Edward, 19, who founded the website says that they added this feature after most students’ requests.   

After you have successfully register and become a member, you can then go to the homepage where you will see different discussion rooms categorized according to subjects e.g History, Math, Economics, etc. Click on the subject you wish to discuss and there you will see different discussions that are already started and you can also start your own by clicking “New Topic”. Other students will see the discussion topic you started and they will start discussing with you.

myElimu as an organization aims at transforming the reception of education to be more enjoyable among students by presenting it in a form they love and understand. myElimu.com is one of the projects that will help in achieving that.

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