BOC Life in STEAM Education Partnership with St. James’ Settlement Instils Interest in Scientific Research & Innovation among Students Through ‘New Generation Financial and Technology Designers’ Programme 

BOC Group Life Assurance Company Limited (‘BOC Life’) announced a new ‘BOC Life New Generation Financial and Technology Designers’ programme in partnership with St. James’ Settlement. With the aim of promoting STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics), this computer programming course is customised to the educational needs of Hong Kong students, with emphasis on both application and innovation. The course marks a new milestone in St. James’ Settlement’s ‘Grant-in-aid Brightens Children’s Lives Service’ for underprivileged students with the hope of enriching their school life. 

BOC Life has committed a sponsorship of HK$1 million to fund the development of this two-year programme. The project has also received a matching grant from the ‘Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged’ of the Social Welfare Department. With a total funding of HK$2 million, the project is expected to benefit at least 320 underprivileged students. 

Mr Wilson Tang, Chief Executive of BOC Life, said at the launch ceremony: “BOC Life is an active advocate for ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) development, and embeds it in our business operations and corporate values. The ‘BOC Life New Generation Financial and Technology Designers’ programme will put students in touch with STEAM. We believe that computer programming training can help students strengthen their logical and mathematical concepts, as well as their problem-solving skills. We have also incorporated wealth management, FinTech and recycling elements into the course so as to nurture positive values in financial management and environment responsibilities from an early age. We are confident that the students will enjoy learning more about technological applications in Arts and ESG.” 

With programming training as the main theme, ‘BOC Life New Generation Financial and Technology Designers’ also aims to promote environmental protection. The programme will provide two different courses for junior and senior primary students, each with 16 sessions of workshops with a total of 24 hours. The tutors will use an interactive approach to instil interest in Science, Technology and Engineering. Primary 2 and 3 students will take part in programming and environmentally friendly robotic workshops, where they will learn coding skills and make robots from recycled materials. Primary 4 to 6 students will participate in AI and wealth management programming workshops. In addition to programming skills, they will gain an understanding of FinTech and consumption patterns under electronic payments. Through participating in phone apps development, the students will be better equipped to cope with technological challenges that they may face in everyday life in future. 

Ms Josephine Lee, Chief Executive Officer of St. James’ Settlement agreed that “STEAM is a trend not to be missed, but unfortunately, many schools and families lack the necessary equipment and resources to offer students the opportunity to learn. We are grateful for the generous support of BOC Life and ‘Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged’. The school children will benefit from the opportunity to acquire STEAM knowledge, while they can understand how the environment, financial management and Technology are applied in society. We also hope to help them cultivate their own interest, and learn how to use innovation to design concrete solutions for daily life challenges.” 

With the addition of Arts elements, the project will shift thematically from STEM to STEAM. The course is set to launch in the current term. A launch ceremony was held today at David Li Kwok Po Community Hall, St. James' Church, Wan Chai, where Mr Tang was the first to experience the well-designed activities along with school children. There are three booths on site, featuring respectively upcycling smart robotic vehicle, smart traffic light mini-game and FinTech wealth management programming, creating a lively vibe around the venue.