QF alumnus, student create private tutoring digital platform

Abdulrahman al-Thani, a graduate of Qatar Foundation (QF) and Abdullah Nazeer, an undergraduate at QF, have created a digital platform offering interactive one-on-one private tutoring in Math, Science and English ensuring quality learning and affordability. The platform ‘Muallemi’ was launched by an educational startup incubated, supported, and guided by QF’s Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP).“We came up with the idea for the startup in 2021 to meet the needs of students and parents for private tutoring in a way that ensures quality education, and one that is affordable,” explained Abdulrahman al-Thani, co-founder at Muallemi, and a graduate of Georgetown University in Qatar, a QF partner. “Through Muallemi, we aim to provide out-of-classroom e-learning services under the supervision of parents, where each student has a private tutor in personalised online sessions. We target students in grades 2 to 12, as well as university students but on a case-by-case basis for this group. We found that students who took at least one lesson on Muallemi per week had improved their grades by an average of 14%.”He said that the service begins with assessing the student’s level, exploring what sparks his or her curiosity, identifying ways of learning that may draw the student’s attention, and then developing a personalised approach.“Currently, Muallemi offers lessons in Math, Science, and English, and we aim to provide other subjects, including Arabic, in the future. We also look forward to expanding our partnerships inside and outside Qatar through our collaboration with Education Above All Foundation and a number of partners,” he said.According to the new ed-tech startup founders, Muallemi tutors are selected according to certain criteria, including that the tutor must have experience delivering over a thousand one-to-one sessions in a specific subject. The cost of a one-hour session ranges from QR33 to QR60.“At Muallemi, we encourage students to make mistakes. We encourage students to try, and we reward them for their effort. Having a positive mindset is key. Students need to know that being good at math isn’t just an innate ability, instead it is the result of continuous effort which gradually will translate to progress,” Nazeer said.Muallemi currently has a multinational team of tutors, and according to Nazeer they are looking at expanding to other countries and having a global team of tutors with the ability to teach multiple different subjects in different languages. “We decided to have our math tutors based in countries such as South Asia as they have a very math intensive education system. All our tutors have a background in math. And in terms of quality, for every riyal paid, Muallemi gives back incredible value,” he highlighted. “For starters, we have a few job openings at Muallemi that we exclusively advertise to EC students. Interning with us gives students great exposure to the world of business, and gives them hands on experience of what it means to run a startup. We also provide a stipend to incentivise them financially as majority of the students who tend to apply are international,” continued, Nazeer.“From the very commencement, Muallemi e-Learning Services reached out to us for support,” said Hayfa al-Abdulla, QSTP innovation director. “Being incubated by the programme, the Muallemi platform benefits from a wide range of support services that allow it to reimagine the tech industry in Qatar. Local technology-based startups, like Muallemi, are offered a rapid and affordable incorporation in the QSTP Free Zone, collaborative co-working space, mentorship, training, workshops, and networking events, as well as access to funding programs and prototyping facilities,” added al-Abdulla.