The struggle is real. When it comes to education, all stakeholders whether parents, guardians; students or teachers, face an uphill struggle with the system. This educational system has largely remained unchanged for centuries.
High school and university students have no option but to pursue a widely paper-based education and learn in a classroom environment that has stayed largely untouched. During the course of their lives, today’s students have the recourse to the latest of technologies, though many times, they’re unable to utilize these tools the full potential. Whilst it can be argued that with the coming of the internet, plenty of course material and online coaching though now available, are hardly comprehensive or all-encompassing.
A Singapore pedigreed education-technology based project, Õpet Foundation has decided to tackle this problem head-on. Õpet’s platform is based on a unique blockchain solution and is driven by artificial intelligence, delivered via a chatbot user-interface. The main target audience for the project is high school students who are on the verge of making choices for higher tertiary education.
The platform uses an AI chatbot that provides a stimulating and interactive environment for students to revise various high school subjects effectively. The platform will also provide academic institutions, lenders and other institutions easy access to student records in a secure and transparent manner. Imagine a day when tertiary or college applicants only need to provide a unique hash key and the institution they apply to, can then unlock it with Opet Tokens with such ease.
The Need for Õpet
Education is a US$ 5 tln market according to Citigroup’s Education: Back to Basics report. However, this market has failed to evolve mechanisms that work in favor of those that constitute it. There are problems like fake credentials, obstacles such as the lack of proper student guidance and technological infusion. Õpet addresses all these concerns through its platform. The system they have created has a virtuous nature that makes it self-perpetuating.
While on the one hand Õpet’s AI chatbot helps students study for their exams and to revise their high school syllabus effectively; the other hand by providing access to student records in a safe and secure way, the platform becomes highly attractive for participants like Tertiary institutions, accreditation agencies, universities; scholarship providers, student loan agencies, banks and potential employers fuelling its use.
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Strength in Partnership
Õpet’s strength lies in it’s strategic partnerships with the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, American University of Central Asia and World Capacity Builder in place so far. More recently, Õpet has been added to the Venture Capital Fund seed portfolio of Pecunio, a U.A.E. based asset platform, who is known for only acquiring high-profile blockchain start-ups with unique selling points. Õpet’s use case is set to increase exponentially due to Metcalfe law and network effects, given its open-loop ecosystem design.
As Õpet expands to various countries, offering its platform services to a whole new set of students and tertiary institutions, the network and ecosystem grows. More importantly, this globally distributed ledger can also empower a whole new form of education-related philanthropy, where donors can purchase OPET off a crypto-exchange and transfer directly to a beneficiary’s digital wallet to support their matriculation/national examination with full transparency to their academic and extra-curricular progress so as to support them further in their subsequent academic or career pursuits, truly advancing the vision of global Education-Inclusion.
Technology That Works for Everyone
The tech behind Õpet is the Ethereum blockchain and Hyperledger Fabric. Transactions can be carried out on the platform in such a manner that they are open, transparent and secure. This facet of Õpet ensures that institutions with user data validation capabilities can be networked together. The Opet Token (OPET) is the token at the center of this ecosystem, not only does it carry out academic transactions but can also be utilized for digital services and offerings.
Students would be able to pay their tuition fee through the OPET platform, the cross-border nature of the token means that parents and students residing in places like the Middle East, South America, Africa etc, where national currencies are highly volatile and unstable would now have to worry less about currency volatility affecting their educational budgets. The platform derives its feasibility from transactions made on it, for example, payment of tuition fee or purchase of services and offerings. A technical whitepaper has been issued, containing all the finer details of what makes Õpet tick.
Creating Value by Problem Solving
Õpet’s approach to educational reform has been one of using the latest of technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence so as to leverage it for the benefit of all those who make up the educational field. They have basically shown the way of how disruptive tech can be used to innovate and create value not only for those who use such technology but also those that help build the platform by supporting it. A private sale has been open to investors to which they can already purchase OPET. This sale will continue till August 31st, 2018. The whitepaper is available for all.
During the duration of the private sale, bonus tokens are distributed depending on the scale of investment: 35% bonus tokens for contributions of 500 ETH and above, 30% bonus tokens for contributions between 200 ETH to 499 ETH and 25% bonus tokens for contributions between 50 ETH to 199 ETH. Those wanting to know more about OPET can go through the token research document or the project brochure. Sometimes the best way of solving critical problems is to take the initiative to make the change, regardless of how long things have been done in the same manner.
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