Darsel
Darsel improves math learning outcomes in low-income communities, with a focus on primary and secondary-level mathematics, through an AI-powered text-based learning platform. Since their inception in 2021, Darsel has impacted 264,000 students in more than 2,600 schools across three countries and is poised for significant global expansion and impact.
The Problem
A global learning crisis is underway: six out of 10 children worldwide are failing to meet minimum proficiency levels in mathematics. Even in the United States, middle school students’ scores have plummeted to the lowest levels in decades, with only 26% of eighth graders meeting proficiency standards. In low-income countries, the situation is even more dire, with nine out of 10 children unable to meet minimum standards. Students fall behind and stay behind, and learning gaps accumulate. While teacher shortages, lack of teacher training, limited education funding, and caregiver constraints are barriers to student success, low-income communities also face a digital divide that limits access to video learning technologies and tutoring. As a result, children miss out on the ability to advance their own economic potential and life outcomes. Declining scores, achievement gaps, and retention issues are expected to exacerbate long-term negative consequences, including educational inequalities, financial illiteracy, and a lifetime of limited economic opportunities.
The Solution
Darsel is an AI-powered, text-based learning platform that provides adaptive math tutoring for students in grades four through nine, with a growing emphasis on foundational math skills. Their interactive, gamified platform features an autonomous chatbot that sends math questions to students via low-bandwidth messaging services (e.g., SMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger). The AI algorithm learns about each student’s skills and creates a personalized learning journey to identify and eliminate gaps in learning, while sending motivational messages as they progress. Over 500,000 unique, curriculum-aligned questions are available through Darsel’s platform, with explanations and hints.
Darsel’s cloud-based solution is designed for scale with minimal administrative requirements: only one full-time employee is needed per 100,000 students. Their intuitive platform requires minimal to no product training, and teachers spend just five minutes per week reviewing performance and motivating students. Available in English, Arabic, and Hindi — at an annual cost of just $1 per student — the platform is designed to accommodate significant language diversification as they scale. Darsel is ready to expand globally to low-income, rural, and urban communities through state and local district adoption.
Impact
264,000 students in over 2,600 schools across Jordan, India, and Nigeria have used Darsel’s platform, who have answered over 269 million math questions. They are on track to reach an additional 160,000 students by the end of 2025.
Darsel’s platform has been proven to improve learning outcomes, backed by an RCT that shows a 0.2 SD increase in math scores.
In June 2025, Darsel received $1 million in funding from Google and is one of just 20 organizations to join the new Google.org Accelerator: Generative AI cohort, designed to harness AI for social impact.
Leadership
Abdulhamid Haidar
Abdulhamid was born into a Syrian family of educators, and his father began teaching him advanced math at the age of eight. He was first accepted to university at 14. After studying computer science, mathematics, and economics at MIT, he started his career working on economic development and public policy issues at McKinsey. Abdulhamid later earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an MPA in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School. He began working on Darsel during graduate school, writing his thesis on education in resource-constrained environments. This research surfaced evidence supporting Darsel’s approach from a policy perspective, strengthening his conviction to pursue the idea.