Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) alumnus Haroon Yasin (SFS ‘15) was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II for his work to educate underprivileged children.

Yasin was one of the winners of the 2018 Queen’s Young Leaders Awards, a global programme that recognises and celebrates young people who are using their skills to impact their communities.

Yasin is the co-founder of Orenda, an educational organisation that uses cartoons and digital streaming technology to bring school curriculums to children in Pakistan who are unable to attend formal classes, or who are at risk of dropping out of school.

Using a mobile app with cartoon characters living in ‘Taleemabad’ (Urdu for ‘Education City’) and complementary work books, Yasin and his co-founder, fellow GU-Q alumnus Ahwaz Akhtar (SFS ’16), are making learning fun and engaging for children across the country.

During his visit to England, Yasin and his fellow award winners met with notable leaders and completed a custom-designed course at Cambridge University, before receiving their awards from the queen.

“The ceremony itself came on the end of a completely packed week, where we had the chance to delve deeper into our work with dedicated mentors at Cambridge University,” said Yasin. “We dis-cussed ideas on how to build movements and advocacy around improving the access and quality of education in our contexts.”

The GU-Q alumnus hopes the knowledge gained from the experience will enable him to scale up Orenda’s work, as the organisation continues to expand the reach of their learning app.

The app now has over 15,000 users, with children spending an average of eight minutes per session learning critical numeracy and literacy skills.

Source: The Peninsula

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