Quality education is a make-or-break factor to anyone in today’s ever-expanding world. Learning needs to go beyond the allocated school times. Rather, it should happen at a time convenient to students. This is where Help.lk comes into the picture. Often, students are often held back by the unavailability of professional help when needed. Long hours of overcrowded tuition classes are no longer the answer. We have all been there – those days where the material did not make complete sense in the classroom. We could only wish we had someone to quickly point us in the right direction and help us ‘get unstuck’ outside school hours. Help.lk seeks to change this by leveraging the power of technology.
Help.lk hit a remarkable milestone with the startup being into the ICTA’s Spiralation programme. Being part of the initiative provided the platform with technical support, and marketing relating to innovation in Sri Lanka. At the time of writing, the Spiralation programme is currently accepting applications for its latest cohort.
What is Help.lk?
Due to economic and technological advancements, the global eLearning market is enjoying steady growth in recent years. It’s a trend expected to continue moving forward. Recognising the issues of learning in Sri Lanka, Help.lk aims to utilise technology to solve them. Through its learning platform, on-demand reliable assistance from certified experts is made available to school students.
In the words of its Co-Founder & CEO, Harsha Abegunasekara, “Learning should not be barred by the absence of wealth or educated parents. All Sri Lankan students should be able to access high-quality academic support from anywhere, at any time, and from any device.”
The platform also provides university students and professionals with an opportunity to earn extra money in their spare time by registering as an online tutor. After registering, these tutors need to set up their availability and pass a certification quiz. Afterwards, they can start taking questions from students.
For students, the Help.lk platform works with a basic one-time pack and monthly subscriptions. With a subscription, students can ask an unlimited number of questions. After posting their question, tutors are notified and can choose to accept helping out. The first tutor to accept the session gets connected to the student instantly. These sessions typically last 15 – 35 mins and maintain a safe learning space for students and tutors alike.
The Help.lk journey thus far
In their first year of operation, Help.lk has exceeded expectations with over 1330 successful student-tutor sessions. Today, the platform has more than 150 verified tutors making a difference to over 600 active users. When it comes to pricing, all products on the platform have been made affordable through two monthly packages and a basic one-time package.
Their ‘Plus’ monthly package comes with 24/7 support, and no limitations on the questions asked. Moreover, the HelpX Bursary Program removes any financial barrier to education for select students on the platform. The program offers an unlimited number of bursaries to its well-deserving students who cannot afford academic help.
The platform’s biggest challenge thus far has been market penetration. Despite an increase in online learning with the COVID19 pandemic, many students (especially in the country’s rural areas) do not have devices for internet access to use the platform. The team at Help.lk aims to mitigate the impacts of this factor by developing a mobile application. One that can be easily used on cost-effective tablets or mobile phones in these areas. Once developed, the team hopes that the app will also enhance the learning experience for all its users and set the stage for the future of learning in Sri Lanka.