Standard Chartered Bank has donated $1 million in Singapore as part of its US$50 million (S$71 million) global assistance fund to help communities deal with unprecedented challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Working with the Infocomm Media Development Authority and its NEU PC Plus programme, the bank is providing needy students, including those from non-Ministry of Education schools, with computers and broadband access so they will not miss out on home-based learning.

The NEU PC Plus programme offers low-income households with students or people with disabilities the opportunity to own a new computer at an affordable price.

Partners have come together to make access to the programme easier by waiving the co-payment scheme and enabling households with three or more children to get a second computer, for example.

StanChart is also an early supporter of The Invictus Fund, established by the National Council of Social Service to support social service agencies during the pandemic.

The Community Chest, through which donations to the fund are made, said donations and volunteering numbers have dropped significantly since the onset of Covid-19. Amid a risk of infection through close contact, social service agencies have to adapt to new ways of service delivery quickly. The fund is set up to ensure that critical social services are delivered to vulnerable individuals and families in these challenging times.

Mr Patrick Lee, chief executive of Standard Chartered Singapore, said: "Covid-19 has made an adverse and profound impact on our businesses and communities. This is precisely a time for all of us to do more, as the needs of the community have become more varied and extreme.

"Our colleagues are also volunteering in bank-organised activities that aim to support our Singapore community in these challenging times."

THE BUSINESS TIMES