Ahead of World Teachers' Day, our alumni Riz Ahmed tells the story of EqualEd, a social enterprise he set up to deliver education around the globe.
After visiting schools in East Africa and India, Riz was moved by what he saw: a significant lack of teachers and the impact on students eager to learn. He talks about his motivation for setting up EqualEd, how it is making its mark in the world, and, in the 20th anniversary of our Executive MBA, how studying at Saïd Business School is helping him succeed:
'Our vision is a world without learning poverty, and our mission is to equalise the access, quality and affordability of education globally. We are a community-building platform, focused on addressing the global shortage of teachers - the UN predicts nearly 70 million new teachers will be needed by 2030.
'EqualEd is harnessing the power of volunteers, powered by technology. Volunteers can be anyone who is expert in a subject, and we operate three key programmes:
- Volunteachers: connecting subject experts with classrooms around the world.
- Teacher Training: resources and development opportunities for local teachers, led by some of the world’s experts.
- Hub Development: building and running community-based, digitally-connect learning centres for entire communities.