The Tech Guru

Breaking free of conventional teaching methods has been the key driving force behind Shams Jaber’s ‘Tech Academy’ that teaches children to create robots, among other things. Colors’ Tamima Islam catches up with this tech guru to find out more on how he has become the success story he is today.

Shams Jaber’s journey goes way back to his high school days when he slowly began to question the educational system we’re all subjected to. “It felt like I had to choose between good grades or learning – neither of the two went hand-in-hand,” he recalls.

He moved on to BRAC University where he opted to study business, simply because he felt it was less time consuming. Eventually, something he just didn’t believe to be right with the way he was taking on his life. So he decided to take a semester break, a break that he didn’t know would last a lifetime. It was during this time Jaber realized his passion was to educate young minds in such a way that they would look forward to going to learn every morning.

Keeping this in mind, in 2013, he started his own academy which would soon shape into what is known today as Tech Academy. It is an institute where children as young as seven years of age get opportunity to learn how to create robots, software and even CGI animations.

With a small team on his side, he took on a school to micro-promote his startup through what is known as a ‘white-paper campaign’. They handed out small pieces of blank-white paper to students and parents, which sparked enough curiosity to get these people to turn back and ask what the paper was for. When told to write their name and phone number, and hand it back to them, confused students and parents were redirected to a banner which had all the information necessary to get an idea of what Tech Academy was all about.

“This on its own got almost 50 per cent of the students to sign up for the academy,” explains Jaber. “Such out-of-the-box thinking is what Tech Academy is all about.”

Today, almost seven years later, the Academy accommodates more than 200 young minds who have grown passionate about learning by the day.
“The only reason we’ve grown this big is because we weren’t afraid of staying in our cocoon for as long as we needed,” says Jaber.

Being a college dropout himself, Shams Jaber has faced a lot of negative backlash from society. His friends seemed to be moving forward while everyone saw him being left behind. But Jaber stayed confidently in his ‘cocoon’ until the time was right for his masterpiece to bloom. Focusing on quality rather than quantity, he was not worried about how many students he had or how many people knew about his organization. He focused on building a community worth being a part of and getting the best he could, out of his students. Soon enough, Tech Academy has become the buzz of the town and a growing success.

In the academy, not only do students learn how to build robots, and create software’s and CGI animation, but they’re also given the opportunity to create the actual product for different companies, and for competitions as well.

Since 2017, students from the Tech Academy have consecutively represented Bangladesh in the First Global Challenge – the biggest international robotics competition for high-school kids, taking place in different countries around the world. This year, they’re expected to be participating in a contest to be held in Dubai.

Tech Academy also has a team of young minds currently building the website of a university department from scratch. Apart from this, they have created websites and apps for various local companies, and the children are getting paid for it too.

When asked about future plans for the Tech Academy, Shams Jaber emphasized the idea of gamification of Bangladesh’s educational system.

“Imagine, a kid playing games all day and ending up with an A,” Jaber goes on to say. “Games that make learning all the more fun is what we aim to achieve in the near future so that more kids can look forward to learning rather than despising what they do every day.”

Jaber also spoke about a CGI animation film the Tech Academy students will be working on soon. The film is based on a ‘monster riding a rickshaw’.
“Concepts like aliens, monsters or dragons are only familiar with New York,” says Jaber. “So we want to make sure they visit Dhaka as well!”

Apart from the academy, Jaber has \also launched a program for adults every Fridays at Jatra Biroti where young kids from the academy will teach adults all they know about tech. Jaber currently teaches at the tech facility in International School of Dhaka.

In a world where we all dread waking up in the morning, Shams Jaber manages to find something which makes him wake up every morning with a desire to move forward. By going against the status quo, his passion has not only driven him to the path of success, but also helped him to find his inner peace; something that we all wish to achieve one day.

“The risks I have taken to come this far have been a gift for me,” he says. “I would have never dreamt of living the way I am right now and I am happy to say that I am content.”