Afterclass

Our journey began with the vision to bridge the gap between classroom learning experience and real-world application. As an organization, we see ourselves assigned the noble mission to address the issue of school guidance and counseling, also the use of inappropriate tools or accessories into the education sector. Education is a transformative endeavor that prepares young minds for a future full of possibilities and, we are committed to empowering students to unleash their full potential.

School guidance and counseling, has been a cancer eating up my society since day one and, no one seems to care. I myself, have been a victim. My dreamer as a child as always to become a programmer but I didn’t know much about programing languages. C++ was the only programing language I was aware of, something I probably learnt into a film. When it was time for me to join a college, I found myself enrolled in a school and program that I never meant to pursue (or needed) because I saw A+ and N+ in the advert and on the application form of that particular college.

Almost ten years later, nothing has changed. No one cares really. In the current educational landscape, many high school students still face uncertainty when it comes to making informed decisions about their future educational institutions or career paths. We are talking 10,731+ primary and secondary schools. According to the Zambia Ministry of education’s education-statistics-bulletin-2020, the average annual growth rate 2014-2020 is 1.70% for primary schools and 7.20% for secondary schools. Kindly note that the numbers of pupils in schools almost doubled for the past two years due to the Zambia’s free education programme.

During our survey, when asked about their aspirations post-high school, a significant number of students are unsure about their desired courses or professions. Even if they express an interest in a well-specified field, their knowledge is often limited and lacks clarity on the various domains within the discipline. For instance, students who mentioned IT didn’t have a comprehensive understanding of the different branches such as maintenance, networking or programming. Similarly, if they expressed an inclination towards programming, they were not aware of the specific area they want to specialize in such as web development or desktop software development. Even if they chose web development, they were not familiar with the distinction between front-end and back-end development or which programming language they should prioritize, lost in the ocean of what you have to learn in school in order to get grades and what Microsoft and Google are suggesting in order to build and deploy applications. These circumstances highlight the need for a comprehensive solution that guides and empowers students in making informed decisions about their educational and career paths. At Ngand, that solution is called Afterclass. Finally, we produce a range of redesigned school items that merge functionality with creativity, enhancing the learning experience and instilling pride in students' academic journey. Our exercise books for instance contain awesome tried and tested examination tips.

Our solution is called Afterclass (www.afterclass.website), a platform for free school guidance and counseling as well as free extracurricular tutorials. In addition, Afterclass is a catalogue of educational institutions, a program where learners meet and exchange with professionals, a podium that gathers learners, guardians, partners and content providers.

Given my personal experience, also recognizing and understanding the importance of personalized guidance and support during the critical decision-making process for higher education and career choices, I decided to build Afterclass. But, providing school guidance and counseling solely, wasn’t enough! It was imperative to start from the very beginning with a solution that equips students with the necessary tools and resources to thrive and understand the significance of their journey as learners.!

Thus, what Afterclass does is, it first lists primary and secondary schools of the region. Also, it offers friendly explanation on why the so-called major subjects are thought in schools. Next, it lists colleges and universities plus courses offered, their duration and the possible career path. Afterclass doesn’t simply list educational institutions, it provides additional information such as location, curriculum, level, type, religion…

In its Essential feature, Afterclass offers extracurricular lessons. These free tutorials go beyond the traditional classroom curriculum, providing opportunities for students to explore diverse subjects, hobbies and interests such as financial literacy, environment, human rights, cyber security… provided by financial institutions, non-gouvernemental organizations, antivirus software companies... At the core of our mission is the belief that true knowledge goes beyond achievements qualifications and accolades. We celebrate students like Tracy, who embody our storytelling campaign and inspire others to pursue KNOWLEDGE driven by curiosity and the desire to make a positive impact.

As a solution, Afterlass servers the following groups of people: 

1.High School Students

It helps students make informed decision about their educational and career path; it provides a free access to school guidance and counseling; free access to certified extracurricular lessons; free access to Afterclass Café, a program where amateurs meet professionals; free access to the educational institutions catalogue; prompt responses to queries in Afterclass Forum.

2. Educational Institutions.

Free listing on Afterclass platform for a better online exposure; Direct link to courses offered for colleges and universities; Ability to host Afterclass Café or guest AfterClass Mission; Free online registration form in order to modernize school registration processes. In a society where technology is rapidly advancing, digitisation and automation are critical for gaining a competitive advantage. Despite this, a large percentage of schools still rely on paper processes, causing them to struggle with meeting students expectations.

3. Retailers

Afterclass has a market place for school items exclusively.

4. School Counselors 

Afterclass helps counselors to be known and make extra income.

To be or not to be?

Our company's story began with my desire to create and not simply consume in life. This desire was solidified after I took the International Computer Driving License exam and was thrilled to receive instant results with the click of a button. It was a stark contrast to the long wait for national grade twelve results. From that moment on, I knew web development was my calling: Digitisation and Automation.

As I continued to learn more about web development, I noticed how much more accurate and rich the content from "hackers" was compared to that of official institutions. In my opinion, the former offered more by adding spirituality, which led me to meet Wayne Dyer…

This, inspired me to create a library called AfterClass. AfterClass aims to close this gape. The goal is to provide free extracurricular lessons, free guidance and information to help learners make informed decisions about their education and career paths.

In short, personal experience is the key. Afterclass is the product of what I went through as a pupil. Not only me, but 90% of my team members have been victims of the same problem. Thus, our personal experience added to our life philosophy of Creating and not only consuming, have given us backing to create insanely great products. Today we are proud to offer a national treasure to the world: an organization of committed and passionate entrepreneurs.

Afterclass website version has been successfully built and lunched since last year. All data for all the features that make up the platform has already been provided by our internal teachers or content creators.

As a company, we are extremely behind when it comes to Artificial Intelligence. We believe and hope Solve will help catch up and make correct decisions when it comes to AI.

We are planning on integrating AI into Afterclass and empower our search engine. In other words, we want our internal search engine to be a chat-bot.

Also, our we have more developers than people who know how to run a company. For every company internal document, from pitch deck to business plan, we have to hire third part organizations.