Digital Skills for Disadvantaged Children in China

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!

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