OnCert: Making Education accesible to all.

We find ourselves in a world where education is so important in order to make big differences in the world. Take a look at the biggest technologies used in making healthcare, business, selling and buying, crime detection so effective are all as a result of education. It is sad to see that the cost of education threatens to devastate families around the globe, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. So many children are not in school, so it has now turned to a situation where education is a privilege for rich and middle-income kids.

Education should be accessible to all.

I have designed an application whereby students in all parts of the world can apply to school all over the world without having to even leave their home. We also try to reach partnerships with the best of schools in the world like the ivy-league schools etc. including good high schools around the globe so that underprivileged kids can access it for the lowest cost possible through scholarships and other sources of funding.

This solution is designed for millions of students, who are not able to access quality education, taking into accounts from primary level of education to post-tertiary. Think of a time when students who are in underprivileged areas will be able to attend schools with rich kids who find themselves in big cities, it will be made possible if location is no longer a worry and fees have been made affordable for them and also there are so many scholarships in place for them. Think of how such children will have smiles on their faces, they will no longer be sitting in classrooms which lack basic learning amenities, but they will be in their homes attending the best schools.

So many children in many villages do not even have access to classrooms, some do even sit under trees to make study and these same children will be writing the same examinations with their fellow children in good schools. 

There are also mature students who are not underprivileged, but due to the high cost of post-graduate master's education and also the expenses that come along with moving from one's home to a foreign country, they too are not able to enroll in good master's programs to improve their skill sets in order to be better at what they do.

This will all be past if OnCert comes into existence, no longer underprivileged children not being able to attend good schools, no more advanced applicants not being able to get into good master's programs around the world. All these problems have passed away.

Currently, I am just in my first year as a professional, and also this solution is just conceptual for now.

I am looking to gain more professional experience and then move to MIT Sloan for my MBA, where I would specialize in Entrepreneurship. Get into my team a co-founder whom together we can plan out our plan of action.

So far I have just opened it up as a Telegram channel and a Facebook account where I share opportunities about some of the few online degrees available and also some postgraduate courses available. 

With the Telegram channel, I currently have 79 subscribers.

With MIT Solve, we know how providing solutions to bigger problems of the world is so important to them.

One does not expect to receive funding for a project without having someone to guide him to be successful, so yes I want to get mentors to help me make this a reality, and also I want to make meaningful networking with sponsors to help in reaching as many underprivileged kids as possible and also the mature students.

Networking is critical, and it can lead to future long-term strategic partnerships.

Being in South Africa yet attending primary school in the US. Being in the village yet attending quality schools in the cities and yet not paying exorbitant fees. This is what OnCert stands for, bringing new dimensions in our education.

No one will be limited in the schools they can attend, there will be barrier to access to quality education.

1. Make online courses of Master's programs, undergrad programs all the way to primary education all over the world available for students to apply to. 

2. Reach partnerships with schools to provide affordable education for all applicants.

3. Make scholarships available for underprivileged students. 

4. Quality education becomes accessible to all.

Basically, our aim is to solve the abyss of problem students go through due to the fact that they are not able to get access to quality education.

According to the insights drawn of the UN Sustainable Development Goals number 4, which speaks about quality education, it is predicted that about 84 million students will drop out of school if measures are not taken. It is possible that there could even be an accretion to higher figures other than the 84 million stated. 

We would want to abate this and our success will be measured by a decrease in student dropout rates and also increasing levels of students being able to gain access to quality education.

We would first develop our solutions into a web application, as time goes on then we will generate an android, mac, iOS and Windows version of the software application.

So far I am the only one: Benjamin Ofori Twumasi (CEO & Founder)

It has been about 10–11 months I have been planning and working towards this goal.

For now, I am currently alone, but as I continue to work on my goals and also coming to MIT Sloan, I would be willing to employ people into my project who have like-minds of also making education accessible for all. Interview process will only ask about goals and objectives (both long and short terms) to help pitch up OnCert in able to achieve all its goals. No question will be asked about nationality.

For racism issues, I would assure that no matter the color of your skin, you are welcome (even I am a black myself).

So my values will be based on Equality, Respect and Professionalism.

We will raise funds through investors' engagement, this will also help us reach partnerships with various schools to help make tuition fees affordable we will also partner with Microsoft, so that we can integrate their video conferencing application into our platform.

We can then use these partnerships to scale our platform.

For now, we have not yet drawn a plan, that is why I will apply to MIT Sloan for my MBA in order to learn more about how to sustain this project, and with the modules and mentorships I will get access to, I would be able to make great decisions that will sustain the project.