An initiative by United Overseas Bank (UOB) has brought welcome relief to parents who were worried about how their children would cope when schools closed in April and home-based learning kicked in.
With eight school-going children at home and only one laptop to share among them, Rachel (not her real name), 39, was afraid her children would fall behind.
"It was a very challenging time when the schools closed. We only had one laptop at home and it was overall quite tough for the kids," said the widowed mother of nine.
However, the UOB My Digital Space programme proved to be a lifeline for the family, by providing them with two laptops.
Under the scheme, UOB gives out digital learning kits to students from low-income families in Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong and Malaysia. It will eventually include Indonesia and Thailand.
More than 560 kits have been distributed to students across the region, including about 250 in Singapore.
UOB has also partnered with Singtel and Singapore Press Holdings to help Singapore students by donating a Wi-Fi package and a complimentary subscription to The Straits Times and a vernacular newspaper of the student's choice, as part of these kits.
The laptops are on loan to the students for a year, with an option to extend the loan period, depending on their needs.
Students who get the laptops also have access to an online resource centre where they can learn about topics such as sustainability and cyber security, beyond their school curriculum.
Rachel said it was a relief to receive the devices as "there was no need for the kids to fight" to use the one laptop at home.
Her daughter Joy (not her real name), who is in Primary 1, said she enjoyed having lessons online. She added that now, she does not have to borrow her eldest brother's laptop whenever she has home-based learning.
Besides this initiative, UOB has also raised more than $1.65 million from staff and customers for the UOB Heartbeat Covid-19 Relief Fund, which helps 31 beneficiaries across the region.
In Singapore, the fund has gone towards producing 500,000 3D-printed face shields for front-line healthcare workers at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, as well as providing essential food supplies to nearly 900 needy families with school-going children for a year.
Ms Lilian Chong, executive director of UOB's group strategic communications and brand, said the bank aims to distribute one million pieces of personal protective equipment to healthcare workers and those in need.
"Given its far-reaching impact, we wanted to extend the reach of our corporate social responsibility programme, UOB Heartbeat, to help vulnerable communities in these trying times," she added.
