On-demand video tutoring app, AskBee, used for #SaveSPM2020

• Nationwide help for SPM 2020 cohort revise through live & on-demand guidance
• Leverage extensive network of volunteers to help thousands of Form 5 students

For just RM1, SPM (Malaysia’s O Level equivalent exam) 2020 candidates can now get 1-to-1 revision help anytime they need. Video-based personal tutoring app AskBee, education NGO Teach, For Malaysia and REAL Education Group have launched #SaveSPM2020 – a nationwide campaign to help SPM 2020 exam takers with revision through live and on-demand guidance from volunteer teachers and tertiary students.

Due to Covid-19, SPM 2020 candidates have had their exams postponed twice from November 2020 to February 2021 – causing over 400,000 students to be stuck in Form 5 and unable to move on to college. Upon realising how worried and anxious his Form 5 students felt, REAL Education Group’s CEO Dr Goh Chee Leong (pic, left) proposed the #SaveSPM2020 initiative to help more students with exam revision during this crucial period.

“Last year was challenging for students, especially those in Form 5 as they could not attend school for months before sitting for a major exam. Teachers don’t have it easy either, as they now need to divide their time between two cohorts of Form 5 students. #SaveSPM2020 is one way we hope to bring relief to this stressful situation, and we see the potential that an innovative app like AskBee has in bridging the revision gap for SPM 2020 candidates.”

AskBee is the first on-demand video tutoring app that enables students to get 1-to-1 guidance in real time. Students can select a subject they need help with and the app automatically matches them with a tutor who then appears live on screen. An interactive in-app video call experience enables face-to-face explanations, text chat and screen-sharing functions. The startup counts, Aaron Sarma of Scaleup Malaysia as an angel investor.

[Ed: Paragraph updated with information on angel investor.]

AskBee’s founder Jason Khong (pic, right) explains that the app was conceptualised during the first Movement Control Order (MCO) as a response to learn-from-home challenges faced by students and parents. “Upon learning about the plight of SPM 2020 students, we decided to change our launch plans and open up the AskBee platform at this critical juncture for volunteer tutors to help with exam revision. Technology is just the enabler; the real heroes are the volunteers who invest their time to support SPM 2020 students. We’re really glad that partners like REAL Education Group and Teach For Malaysia are sounding the call for volunteers from among top university students and alumni.”

A seasoned entrepreneur, Jason founded, Apptivity Lab, a software development house in 2009 and the company is credited with launching the first Malaysian app to appear in Apple's App store in 2009. He also built the first version of Grab's app, back when it was called MyTeksi. Pasionate about the purpose of AskBee, Jason has decided to personally run AskBee. He remains CEO of Apptivity.

[Ed: Article updated with this para which was not in an earlier version.]

Teach For Malaysia is reaching out to their wide network of alumni and university campus ambassadors to make themselves available on AskBee to support and tutor SPM 2020 students. Teach For Malaysia’s CEO, Chan Soon Seng (pic, left) says: “Our mission has always been to mobilise a generation of leaders to empower our nation through education. #SaveSPM2020 allows us to leverage our extensive network of volunteers to help thousands of Form 5 students who are struggling to prepare for the coming exams.”

Proceeds from #SaveSPM2020 tutoring sessions on AskBee go towards education NGOs like Teach For Malaysia. #SaveSPM2020 is now calling for more members of the public to volunteer as a tutor. Those interested can visit www.askbee.my/savespm2020 for more information.