Instructory: A marketplace for teaching online
Naser's dream was a rather unorthodox one: he wanted to be a math teacher for the underprivileged. So, once done with his studies, he joined an institution as a teacher in one of the most remote parts of Thakurgaon. Thanks to his dedication and perseverance, the underperforming students started to excel in their studies. Naser couldn't be happier with their results. But his happiness was short-lived, as he realised that the meagre salary that he drew as a teacher was barely supporting his livelihood. He thought of taking private tuitions, but the student-families weren't well off to pay for tuition. Understanding the need of teachers like Naser, a bunch of passionate youths made a marketplace to sell unique skills and experience: Instructory. According to the founding team of Instructory, the idea was to build a virtual bridge between teachers and students so that both can benefit. And that's how the idea of this 'on-demand' platform was born. The goal was simple: establishing an online teaching marketplace for the best educators so that they can regain their financial stability, while also helping everyone to learn anything, anytime, from anywhere. As the platform is fully functional now, a teacher can easily earn by sharing their classes with everyone and students can learn from online video tutorials on various topics.
The founders of Instructory plan to integrate teachers from every corner of 64 districts of Bangladesh in their platform gradually. This is a platform where teachers can easily earn by sharing their courses with everyone and students can also prepare for the future through learning from online video tutorials on various topics.
Starting up with Instructory is simply: register yourself to their website or call them directly. Once you record and upload your video, make sure it's properly labelled. You can then share it within your network. They can buy your tutorial by going to the course URL. Payment is also easy: one can opt for bKash, Visa, MasterCard, mobile or internet banking. And as an instructor, you get your share by 20-25th of every month.
Rifat M Huq, one of the founders of Instructory and the CEO of Shikhbe Shobai, informed that after brainstorming with his fellow founders, they immediately understood the importance of the concept. After doing a market R&D, prototyping and validation testing for two years, Instructory is a ready platform now.
According to Huq, since its launch on May 27, Instructory has gained quite an audience. Students from school, college, university are one of the key subscribers of their services. Although the idea of Instructory originated from academic demands, it is also hosting content on life and professional skills i.e. programming, website development, photography, graphics design, SEO and digital marketing. IT based skill building content are one of the most subscribed topics, according to Huq. When asked regarding long-run plans, Huq replied that, in just over 4 months of operation, we have over 45 instructors. By the end of this year, the Instructory team is expecting to have 100 instructors who will join with them to spread their education from all over Bangladesh.