13 Year Old BHIS Student Develops Educational Buddy – EDDY to Improve Online Learning

Online learning has become the new normal and children are finding ways to cope with this new format of learning. Husein Hakim - a 13 year-old grade VIII student of Billabong High International School, Santacruz - has taken his passion for coding to create an innovative, educational mobile app EDDY, to help make available e-books, assignment submissions and recorded classes.

Speaking about how he got this idea, Husein said, “I saw a need-gap/ problem and started working to make a solution to address this need. EDDY can help students easily access resources for learning. With recorded classes, students have the liberty to go back and refer to videos for knowledge enhancement. The teachers of Billabong International High School Santacruz guided me and their constant motivation helped me fine tune and realize my idea of developing and launching EDDY.”

Nikhat Azam, Principal, BHIS Santacruz added, “At Billabong High International School, the learning ethos is directed towards enabling our students to reflect & hone their strengths and true passions. The end goal is to ensure they find their ‘north star’ the one thing they are truly passionate about. Most activities, projects & initiatives are designed to ensure learning that stimulates problem-solving, creative thinking and a growth mind set. These achievements and ‘new innovations’ by our students are testimony to our efforts as a school have been successful in providing them with a thriving environment. The out-of-the box thinking, confidence and ability to be a solution seeker and a collaborator, is the hall mark of Billabong High International School which makes it a very special school.”

Husein has been working towards creating solutions to problems he sees around him and he was a runner-up in a design championship in 2019 and in 2020. Husein wants to move ahead with programming language such as Java so that he can enhance the app and add better features. He wants to connect Eddy to a server to allow the app to function so that it is available to everyone.  His dream is to work with one of the big 5 technology corporations and possibly start something of his own, as he learns the ropes of the business.

About Billabong High International School:

Billabong High International School came up as a step forward in the journey to fire the imagination of children in 2003; we now have 35 schools in India and Maldives. Its goal is to create high interest and rewarding learning experiences that will stay with children for the rest of their lives. Giving a purpose to learning and allowing children to be thinkers, innovators, and problem-solvers will result in natural and integrated development of knowledge, skills, and thinking. Billabong High International School offers the ICSE, IGCSE and CBSE boards, from preschool through Grade 12.