Digital Skills for Disadvantaged Children in China

As was the case in 2020 and 2021, our flexibility and resilience were put to the test during the first six months of 2022. We are very proud to say that our team more than rose to the challenge. Despite facing lockdowns and school closure in Shanghai and many parts of China due to surging COVID-19 cases, we have carried on with our efforts to provide educational services to our beneficiaries by improving our online processes, transferring our offline programs to online mode, opening new online programs, and recruiting volunteers from different backgrounds.

In the first six months of 2022, more than 100 volunteers and trainers joined forces to deliver an impressive total of 552 digital literacy lessons (almost all of them online) to 427 disadvantaged students. New lessons in coding were also added to our curriculum to enhance our students’ knowledge and learning experience during these difficult and exceptional times.

As the summer has started, we are very excited to have resumed some of our offline programs in Shanghai, while continuing to provide engaging online lessons. We are currently delivering online or offline lessons to more than 200 students.

In addition to supporting us through funding or donation of equipment, many of our partners have also contributed to our program by encouraging their employees to volunteer with us. For example, PricewaterhouseCoopers have mobilized so far more than 50 employees to join our program in 2022. We are also especially grateful to the Transparent Fish Fund and the Chao Foundation for their continued support since 2016.

Thank you all for your support!

Links:

• Read more about our programs on our website

Like its predecessor, 2021 was certainly an unparalleled year for us. Our team and our volunteers are nothing if not resilient, and during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, as during many other challenging circumstances, we met adversity with perseverance, purpose, and innovation.

Considering all the challenges we faced throughout the year, such as the suspension of some of our offline programs in schools and centers, our digital literacy program has remained very active in 2021. We continued to provide offline and online digital literacy lessons at an increased number of community centers in Shanghai and through the internet, while enhancing our efforts to improve our curriculum and teaching resources (e.g., developing educational videos), and developing new partnerships to support primary and middle school students, as well as vocational school students.

Thanks to the support of many individual donors, private foundations and corporate partners, our teachers and volunteers were able to teach 780 lessons to more than 1,080 students at 18 teaching sites. A special thank you to the following sponsors and partners: Transparent Fish Fund and The Chao Foundation, PwC, Shanghai United Foundation, Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation, L'Oréal, Texas Instruments, EP Academy, Teensgeeker, Gengyuan Education, Concordia International School, Byte dance, Tiny Tots Educational Group and Springfield Education. In addition to supporting us through funding and/or donation of equipment, many of our corporate partners – such as L'Oréal, PwC and Texas Instruments – have also contributed to our program by encouraging their employees to volunteer with us.

Feedback from our stakeholders has also been very positive. A volunteer said: “I enjoy the experience of being a volunteer very much. Sharing my knowledge with students and teaching them new skills is very fulfilling, and it also gives me a sense of achievement to watch their gradual growth in information technology.”

As the Spring 2022 semester has started in China, we have resumed our programs, launched new sites and, as of today, temporarily moved our offline classes to small-sized online classes due to lockdowns and school closures amid recent outbreaks of COVID-19 cases in China. We are currently delivering weekly lessons to more than 600 students.

We have been humbled by the many supporters and volunteers who helped us provide digital literacy classes to hundreds of students in China. Thanks to their generosity, our students have acquired a variety of new skills and knowledge, while improving their motivation and self-confidence. We are hopeful for another successful year in 2022!

Links:

• Website