“I spent 6 years studying abroad but I love Bulgaria and I have always known that I would return here and do something good for my country,” says 25-years-old Darin Madzharov. He is the creator of an educational platform, entitled ucha.se. The young man is a computer expert who graduated in Germany. He came to Bulgaria to realize his idea about the http://ucha.se/ website, saying this job motivates him as he sees actual results. The web site helps a lot of people and I feel students need someone to support them and motivate them, he says. In the end of 2012 Ucha.se grabbed the best educational site award in Bulgaria. Here is more from Darin Madzharov himself:

“While I was studying in the university a German company invited me to make video lessons in physics. They were similar to the lessons on my site but the work was not really effective. It took 20 hours to make a single video. I learned a lot of things there and decided to make a video lesson to help my younger sister with her studies. She and her schoolmates liked it a lot and that was how I decided to create a web site, which is now quickly gaining popularity.”

For less than a year the number of video lessons on the site has grown to reach a total 790. And more than one million users have already downloaded them. Currently, lessons focus on students from the 5th to the 11th grade but Darin Madzharov hopes the number of lessons will increase to comprise the whole school curricula. The team working on the site includes 16 people.

Access to the educational site is absolutely free, while creating it wasn’t and that is why the young man applied for financing from the LaunchHub investment fund. His project was approved and he received 30,000 euro in exchange for a share of his company. The fund also provides a mentorship programme that aims at helping companies grow faster. Mr. Madzharov told us more about the videos on his site.

“First the actor who is shown in the video meets a teacher with whom they prepare the lesson together. After that the actor presents it in a more interactive and fun way in order to grab students’ attention. Our team includes creative young people who can draw or communicate well with children. At the same time we also use experienced teachers.”

He also told Radio Bulgaria that the site follows closely the approved curricula of the Ministry of Education. We first see what textbooks students use and then we try to turn these same lessons into truly interesting and fun videos, Darin Madzharov says.

”Linear equations for example usually seem very difficult to children. I decided to show them how these equations can be used in real life situations. I created a game which represents a football match between the teams of Levski and CSKA. One has to compile equations in order to see who wins. When students see the application of mathematics in life it becomes much more interesting to them.”

© Photo: personal archive

The team of creative young people

Even teachers have started to use the video lessons created by Darin and his team in order to facilitate their work. The videos help them make classes more attractive to students. 

The young businessman says there are a number of great teachers in Bulgarian schools. In Germany I studied together with students form 91 different countries and I saw that Bulgarians and Romanians were the ones with the most solid scientific knowledge, he concludes.

English version: Alexander Markov