- Teachers have access to more than 100,000 categorised questions for only Sh20.
- Current assessment methods are often time-consuming, subjective, and lack the insights.
Back in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic struck resulting in the closure of schools, two colleagues Brian Gacari and Chris Kamande came together to launch a digital product that would facilitate the continuation of learning.
The product was dubbed Darasa. app would incorporate different learning content including animated videos on various subjects, life and career talks, as well as live classes from teachers in some of the top schools in the country.
The innovation could not have come at a better time, as it would enable students to continue with their learning despite the movement restrictions.
As a result, it quickly attracted attention, with over 5,000 students using it for learning by the end of 2021.
In 2022 however, when lockdown restrictions were lifted, the education calendar went back to normal, resulting in a significant decrease in the number of students using the platform, as schools resumed normal operations.
“For us to remain relevant, we knew we would have to go back to the drawing board. In our previous interactions with the schools and teachers, one of the things we noticed they struggled with was acquiring quality exams,” said Chris Kamande, co-founder of Darasa. app.
Therefore in 2023, they transitioned from offering learning content to providing assessment content, that would enable teachers to set quality exams or homework for their students, based on the new CBC and 844 curriculums.
At a fee of Sh20 per assessment downloaded, the application would grant teachers access to more than 100,000 categorised questions, with 1,000 new questions being uploaded daily to the system.
“Teachers struggle to quickly assess student understanding, provide personalised feedback, and make data-driven decisions.
Current assessment methods are often time-consuming, subjective, and lack the insights needed to truly optimise learning,” posed Brian Gacari, co-founder of Darasa. app.
The team had put a lot of work into making sure that the product matched the market needs and while it did, there was a problem. Many of the teachers they targeted were not aware of the product.
Those who eventually became aware of the product were at first a bit hesitant in using it, either because they were not tech-savvy, or they were just used to the old way of doing things.
“As any start-up, we were not immune to challenges, but this time, we knew we were onto something, so we kept on working on improving the product,” said Brian.
Their efforts finally began to pay off, when some of the teachers who used their platform, began referring them to other teachers. As the number of users grew, so too did their workforce, for them to be able to handle the growing workload.
At a workforce of 22 currently, the firm’s co-founders say their dream is to expand even further, venturing into other markets for anyone across the globe to be able to use the product to set assessments in their respective countries and curriculums.
Students can also do assessments with the product, categorised in topics and sub-topics for 8.4.4 high school as well as strands and sub-strands for the CBC system, at daily subscription fees of Sh99, weekly subscription fees of Sh159 or monthly subscription fees of Sh999.