Coronavirus has a lot to answer for, much heartache and tragic loss but one rather more positive effect has been the emergence of a truly active and enjoyable life online for many of us. Education is no exception as, enter a British man, who has miraculously turned education on its head by capturing more than 2000 students who have joined his online school, taking free, live, quality lessons, delivered by fully-qualified, volunteer teachers. His ground-breaking vision and quick-thinking actions have resulted in the creation of an online school teaching the core subjects, maths, English and science to 5-18 year olds and it only started on 20th March, at the beginning of lockdown. Apart from the core subjects, his school offers yoga and dance to keep his students on their toes and more subjects are being added to the regular timetable all the time. Latin is commencing shortly as he believes that this is an important core element of a good education.
So, who is this emerging Titan of the world of teaching and learning? He is Ali Latif who comes from a middle – class British family which holds robust beliefs about the benefit of a good education. Ali is a physics graduate and holds a masters in financial economics and his family has also always placed a strong emphasis on being altruistic and giving back to society. Ali’s mother inculcated a strong desire in him to help others as she led by example and fostered children with learning difficulties for many years.
In a nutshell, Ali’s mission in life is to provide a free, live, quality online education for all in the world and he is already doing so for students in 15 other countries apart from the UK. Children in remote villages in Zambia and Namibia are benefitting tremendously right now and his education tentacles are spreading fast across the globe. Can you imagine a world where all refugees receive an education despite their poor living conditions? Ali is already on it and refugees in Greece are learning as we speak!
Teachers and staff at The Online School find Latif to be a charismatic and engaging leader and they are willing to contribute to his dream without pay because the ambition of educating the world for free is a bold ambition but one, they realise, that must be fully achieved as soon as possible if we are to consider ourselves a civilised society. If we have the technology to accomplish giving an education to every single person, which we do, then all we have to do is get the word out so everyone can logon; it really is as simple as that.
