alteryouth

AlterYouth Limited

alteryouth

Uber for scholarships: a P2P app that lets users start their own scholarships for students in public schools, preventing dropouts.

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Bangladesh

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

Globally, 250 million children are not in school. Among them, one group never enrolled in school and the other group was once in school but are no longer in school because they dropped out. The problem we are solving is the latter: dropouts in schools. In Bangladesh, schools are free and 98% of children enroll in schools. However, 14% of children drop out before completing primary school due to poverty. This is approximately 2 million children who grow up illiterate, unable to harness the power of the internet in their lifetimes. Only if we could prevent these dropouts—at least until completion of school—Bangladesh could become a highly educated nation. So why are children dropping out? Despite schools being free, children drop out to either work and earn meager amounts to support their families, or are married off as children to relieve their families from the little costs required to sustain them. UNESCO says free schooling does improve admission; however, further incentive is needed to keep dropout rates low. Globally, school dropouts remain one of the fundamental reasons behind gaps in learning and opportunity. Our solution starts in Bangladesh, but is designed to scale—addressing a universal problem of dropout-driven illiteracy.

Just like any other P2P app, AlterYouth has two sides: The AlterYouth School app, which enables teachers of Government Schools in Bangladesh to onboard their schools onto the platform and apply for scholarships for their students from poverty-affected families. And on the other end, the AlterYouth app enables users from anywhere in the world to directly offer scholarships to those students and prevent them from dropping out. When a scholarship starts, the student’s mother receives a mobile phone with a mobile bank account. Each scholarship is USD 12.5/month, transferred through mobile banking to the mother, contingent upon 75% attendance and passing marks by the student. With a higher income opportunity now tied to education, the family prioritizes school over work or early marriage. The scholarship continues until completion of class 12, ensuring an educated citizen ready for the future. Users can also view report cards and attendance updates on their app. UNESCO lists both scholarships and financial incentives as effective tools for reducing dropouts. AlterYouth digitizes this at scale with automated eligibility, monitoring, and direct transfers. The model is scalable and transparent—empowering families, retaining students, and enabling a nation to educate itself.

AlterYouth serves students from low-income families in rural Bangladesh who are at risk of dropping out of public schools due to poverty. These students are identified by three objective criteria: they have a disabled father, a single mother, or are orphans. In Bangladesh, the absence of a male income earner typically results in extreme poverty, often forcing families to send children to work or into early marriage. Each scholarship through AlterYouth provides $12.5/month, increasing household income by up to 50% for families living under $2/day. The funds are transferred directly via mobile banking to the student’s mother, who also receives a mobile phone and a digital bank account—often for the first time. This ensures that families have both a financial and digital reason to keep their children in school. By staying in school through class 12, students gain foundational skills and future opportunities that can break intergenerational poverty. Mothers are financially included and empowered. Teachers use the platform to reduce dropouts in their schools. AlterYouth not only prevents dropouts but builds long-term learning continuity, digital access, and social mobility for underserved students—ensuring they stay in classrooms, not on the margins.