Learning September 2020∣Youth Hong Kong
Tutors for the asking
L
essons and learning have been transformed by COVID-19 but some students have had to cope with serious disadvantages. M21, the Federation’s media centre, has been organizing support in partnership with several organizations.
M21 has collaborated with Snapask to let young learners put questions to trained university students. They are available to help 24/7 and this Hong Kongbased app offers this service to students in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan. The app supports image recognition technology and machine learning algorithms that make learning much more interesting. Usually, students pay a monthly fee of HK$640 and can ask up to 50 questions. However, as Timothy Yu Yau-him, the 25-year-old co-founder says, “Our mission is to level the playing field.” The aim of M21’s initiative is to connect Snapask to needy students with insufficient access to online learning tools. Now, about half of the app’s users are underprivileged children who receive the service at a discounted rate. Each registered student for the Scheme can ask 30 questions for free for up to 90 days. A total of 4,000 primary and secondary school students from low-income families are expected to benefit.
More details and online applications m21.hk/academic_support/ Enquiries Christy Yeung 3979 0034
18
Snapask with M21 Major partners INCO Education Accelerator and Google.org
Supported by • Association of I.T. Leaders in Education (AiTLE) • FlippEducators@HK • Hong Kong Association of Careers Masters and Guidance Masters (HKACMGM)
More M21 COVID-19 Supporting Schemes Bandwidth Support for eLearning at Home 100K free SIM cards for students and free upgrades of Zoom accounts for schoolteachers conducting online learning: a special project sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust eDevice Support for eLearning at Home 380 free new tablets and SIM cards with technical support for students: sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust Emergency Fund Mask Support for Schools Free delivery of discount high quality masks to 100 primary and secondary schools during mask shortages STEM from Social Innovation A youth empowerment project that combats COVID-19 through social inclusion:
