Biruh Generation

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  This is the logo to our upcoming organization

Inspiration

I finally started paying attention to words that I have heard a million times, "Ethiopia is a doomed nation". I was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a country most known for its traditions and rich historical backgrounds. Now, Ethiopia is a third world country with majority of the nation living in poverty. I always wondered why our nation was going through this tremendous cycle of poverty, war and scarcity and why things somehow don't get any better. It all came down to this point— it was the lack of quality education. In Ethiopia, the passing rate of the high school exit exam has been swinging from around 5-8% for the past 3-4 years, which leaves around 90-95%+ students not having access to higher education. This leaves the country with a youth that is not able to discover and move further beyond secondary education. I gave this issue a lot of thought and researched this issue and came to a shocking realization— there is a massive language barrier between the students and their education. In Ethiopia, students take their classes in their native language until the 7th grade, while English is just taught as one of the subjects. Now moving forward to high school that language barrier starts showing its face when students are introduced to a new language of instruction and a complex concept. This leads to increasing dropout rates and lack of confidence, creating a gap that the students can't restore. In recognition of this problem, I wanted to create a solution that can create the next brightest nation in Ethiopia, therefore Biruh Generation is born.

What it does

Biruh Generation is an upcoming youth led organization that works toward bridging the English language barrier between Ethiopian students and their education by providing online learning sessions and bilingual resources. We plan to pair our volunteers with Ethiopian students to work on their language skills well-roundedly. The biggest issue in learning English as a Second Language in Ethiopia is that the learning is primarily focused on rot memorization and not on application. Students know each and every rule by heart, but there is a problem with applying it. Our service will include giving them chances to share their ideas orally, as well as on paper, and apply the knowledge they have. We also want to focus on creating a community where students can feel comfortable practicing their fluency without fear of failure and discrimination.

How we built it

Our youth led organization will be fully volunteer-led. The sessions will be held on Telegram, as Telegram works well on low data bandwidth. The resources we make will also be uploaded on our Telegram channel to make it easily accessible for our students. Our service will be given on a 2 tutors: 3 students ratio to give each student enough attention, provide close guidance and assess personalized focus areas. Student will first take a test to see which level or proficiency they are on and will be matched with a group that is on the same proficiency level as them. This will create an opportunity to foster a positive community where they will be able to share ideas and grow together. When our organization starts to grow bigger, we want to hold sessions that go beyond learning English and into something that works on the students as a whole. Such as giving STEM, art and research lessons to build the gap they couldn't explore because of the language barrier.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge is trying to create lesson plans. The main objective of this initiative is to make a tangible difference on the students, so trying to create learning systems was challenging. Not knowing how dedicated the volunteers are willing to be, how much internet access the students have and finding the resources to examine the growth of a student is quite difficult. Getting the word out there and trying to find a leadership team to execute this project together is also one of the biggest challenges I am facing right now.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I have sent out interest forms to all the people I know and numbers have been growing from the first day the form was published. Narrowing down the goals for this initiative and specifying on the resources we need has also been one of our greatest achievements so far.

What we learned

I have learnt that turning this project into reality will take a lot of hard work, networking opportunities and collaboration. I have also learnt that throughout working on a project, ideas will continue to change and become refined so I need to be flexible.

What's next for Biruh Generation

The next step for Biruh Generation is to contact institutions in Ethiopia that are working towards quality education for Ethiopian students. The goal is to partner with them and meet our target group through them. Once we have secured the partnership, I will hold the interest meeting to recruit volunteers and people who are interested in leadership positions.

Built With

• google-docs
• google-spreadsheets