Exercise with Hasnae, gamification and competition to help Moroccan students thrive

Nerd can be cool, it is the dream of a young Moroccan who is passionate about education. El Ghali El Youssoufi was himself a nerd, growing up. But one who was easily bored with his homework, intrigued by competition though and a lover of math and languages.

The best memories he retains from his school years are those he made during math Olympiads and spelling bee competitions. He loved winning and did not fancy the way in which most teachers pushed him to study for exams and midterms. He craved contests and was only motivated by competition.

This spirit grew with him and years after graduating school, he found himself drawn to education through the world of entrepreneurship.

On the other hand, Hasnae was another nerd who was passionate about school and studying. On top of that she had a gift : Being able to explain any given subject. When she was young, her favorite game was to play teacher and put pillows from the living room in front of her to mimick a classroom. At school, she would do the same with her classmates, whom she used to help understand complicated subjects. Everyone had fun, as Hasnae used to explain in an easy and simple way.

With the same vision, and using the same method, she launched her Instagram page Exercise with Hasnae, in which she explains math, science, literature and complicated equations for highschoolers, speaking using their jargon and references. Her page attracted the attention of El Ghali, who was at the time working on a similar project.

Speaking in the language of teenagers

While collecting literature on his project, the young man stumbled upon Hasnae’s page to realize that they had almost the same vision. «I had already created a startup and I wanted to do something related to education. I was incubated in a support program by Orange, attending coaching sessions every week and my coaches urged me to launch my project», El Ghali told Yabiladi.

«I used to show Hasnae’s page to my coach and say that she would be my future competitor. I then thought to myself ‘why not work with her?’», he recalled. And so it was, El Ghali and Hasnae partnered through the startup Hopez, creating videos for students struggling to understand math, physics, and history, among other subjects.

Their videos are animated in a way that attracts young people, using memes and references to pop culture. «We try to speak to students in their language, making the kind of videos they like to watch online, while keeping them educational», El Ghali explained.

As a CEO of Hopez and a scriptwriter for the videos, El Ghali and Hasnae work together to make education cool. «Our goal is to simplify lessons to youngsters in way that is not academic (…) to put it in other words we want to make education cool and having straight A’s cool», he proudly declared.

Studying in a fun way

With his team that includes a video editor, an animator, an education director, and Hasnae as a voice-over and vice-president, El Ghali believes that studying should also be fun. And fun can only come from competition, recalling his experience with school.

«We are confident that the only way to make studying fun is through gamification», the entrepreneur explained. With this vision, the two partners have launched, on December 12, their new project ‘Laclasse.ma’, a platform that secures this gamification aspect and makes studying fun and offer rewards.  

Through two teams, for the two senior grades of high school, students will be competing to win presents and attend social events. Every team will combine studying and gaming to win. «La-Classe is a year-long competition, a ‘classico’ for students», El Ghali explained. «The best rated students from each team will have to sit for a nationwide exam and the student with the highest score will be awarded an iPhone. In addition to that, the team with the highest average score will be able to choose an event to attend that month, such as going to the movies, or participating to a tournament among others», he revealed.

To test their new project, a mock version on a smaller scale was organized last week in Casablanca. 10 students were invited to attend an afternoon, during which classes and games were hosted. First, students were asked to play games, like football simulations or board games, then they were asked to attend a class on one of the subjects they have at school. Later, they would go on to play an online game with a quiz, evaluating their knowledge regarding the topic they have just studied. After the ranking, they are asked to play again and go back to attend a second class.

«At first, they did not want to leave gaming for studying. But then they took a class of history and geography and they played the game online with a ranking. After the quiz they were so captivated that we asked them to go back to play but they refused», El Ghali recalled proudly. «They were interested and captivated. Most of them said that they had the best afternoon of their life. Now, we want to do this with hundreds of other students through La-Classe», El Ghali hoped.

In addition to their project, El Ghali and Hasnae have also launched a competition for the teachers partnering with La-Classe. They were able to list the best teachers online for every subject to help students win the quizzes and eventually the awards promised by the program.

Following a thorough selection process, they have hired the best teachers in the market based on «the recommendations of both students and professionals from the sector». «Now we have a list of trusted teachers with a great reputation. These teachers will be part of project La-Classe», El Ghali concluded.

Now El Ghali and Hasnae, and through their love for education and competition dream big for project La Classe. Indeed, their start-up was consecrated after winning the first prize of the 2023 Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East.