Meet 14-year-old Kelvin who’s helping resolve free SHS challenges

The implementation of free senior high school policy is being impeded by a lot of challenges.

According to 14-year-old Kelvin Amaniampong, one challenge he faces in school was no vacation classes and no textbooks meant no learning for two months. This was a very bad thing for him and so he had to find solutions.

He added that his first semester in high school wasn’t so successful due to inadequate teaching staff and textbooks. And as the only Science student among his friends, he had no one to turn to, to borrow Science textbooks to study during the vacation.

“Yes, we’ve seen so many challenges that it is very difficult to tell whether this program can stand the test of time. Some of these challenges include inadequate infrastructure, inadequate teaching staff, ‘the double-track system’ and books” – Kelvin told Ghanaian museum.

According to Kelvin who comes from a poor home, the Free SHS policy is good and has helped him a lot but it comes with BIG challenges and this has inspired him to come out with a great idea, ‘Scrolbooks’.

To be able to make his dream come through he turned to his uncle who is a Computer programmer to help him bring the idea (Scrolbooks) to life.

Scrolbooks when fully completed will offer both JHS and SHS students 100% free BECE, WASSCE, Nov-Dec, etc. past questions and answers, as well as all the textbooks students at all educational levels in Ghana, require.

“I call it ‘The Other FREE EDUCATION’ but this time, it’s happening in your palm. No need for ‘double-track classes.’ Learn from the comfort of your home or anywhere on your mobile phone, tablet, laptop or desktop” Kelvin Said.

Explaining further he added that Scrolbooks is a web app that aims to provide 100% FREE (digital) textbooks as well as past questions and answers based on the GES syllabus to all Ghanaian students at any educational level especially JHS and SHS students.

This goes beyond the government’s decision to print free WASSCE PASCOs for students. This is because PASCOs quickly get outdated and so more money will have to be pumped into printing new books each year.

When asked about the meaning of his Scrolbool he answered; “Scrolbooks combine two English words – SCROL(L) + BOOKS. So basically, you’re studying by simply scrolling digital books on your mobile, desktop, laptop or tablet”.

1. Top students connect feature: This feature will enable weak students to network with smarter students on Scrolbooks to help them improve their studies or solve problems.

2. Talk to a Teacher: Here, students can find good teachers on the platform to help them with further learning or homework help. This way, teachers can earn extra revenue from Scrolbooks.

3. Social (Viral) features: The interactive and social nature of Scrolbooks makes learning more fun. This way, we have educational content going viral on social media instead of the ‘other things.’ This has the tendency to reduce social media addiction among students and rather promote more positive productive things.

4. Quiz contests: Quiz contests can be conducted and top-performing students awarded.

5. Conducting any type of exam.

6. Performance tracking and assessment: Students’ performance will be tracked and so students can request to download their records in a CSV file format.

Kelvin Amaniampong, co-founder of Scrolbooks is a student of Ghana Senior High School, Koforidua.

According to Kelvin, this is what triggered the big brain

“My inability to purchase all the required textbooks for my senior high education motivated me to design Scrolbooks.

Free education is one of the best things that has ever happened to me but it comes with BIG challenges. For instance, the double-track system where students spend almost 2 months at home. Students like me who cannot afford quality vacation classes and textbooks might spend the whole 2-month vacation without any learning. This is one of the areas Scrolbooks intervene. This is true because most students or their parents have smartphones and so accessing something like Scrolbooks at home is much easier and cheaper than vacation classes.

Another thing that motivated me was the government’s initiative to roll out FREE WiFi in High Schools. This makes learning with Scrolbooks super-easy especially now that we’re allowed to bring tablets and laptops to school not to mention using the ICT lab during library hours to study on Scrolbooks.

It all started when I first experienced Buzzfeed quizzes on my uncle’s PC. Those quizzes were so interesting. I then asked my uncle who is a Computer programmer whether he could teach me how to design my own ‘Buzzfeed quizzes.’

After 2 weeks, I was able to create my own general knowledge quizzes and that’s when the idea of something like Scrolbooks came in mind. He helped with the domain name and hosting and here we are now… Scrolbooks.

I am very glad I’ve taken advantage of some of the little opportunities and made something as BIG as Scrolbooks out of it”.

Read more on scrolbooks.com

 

Source: MyNewsGh.com