On March 20th, the Lenovo Foundation, in partnership with the 21st Century Education Research Institute, officially launched the “Lenovo Rural Children’s Digital Literacy Support Program.”
This marks the first philanthropic funding initiative in China dedicated to enhancing digital literacy among rural children.
Attendees at the launch included Ren Changshan, Director of the Department of Education Information Technology and Network Security at the Ministry of Education, Professor Fang Haiguang from Capital Normal University’s Education College, Huang Shengli, Executive Director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, Liu Xiaolin, Chairman of the Lenovo Philanthropy Foundation, as well as representatives from rural education and relevant media.
The Lenovo Foundation has long been committed to the future of rural children and, as China’s rural digital transformaton advances, aims to ensure that every rural child is equipped to confidently navigate the digital age.
The program is tailored to boost digital literacy among rural children. Its initial phase, running from 2024 to 2025, will involve the Lenovo Foundation providing a total of 4 million RMB (523,000 USD) in philanthropic funding.
Open to submissions and evaluation from diverse entities including philanthropic organizations, educators, and businesses, the program will support two types of projects: Outstanding Projects, which will receive funding for scaling up and replicating initiatives that effectively enhance digital literacy among rural primary school children, and Outstanding Creative Projects, which will back innovative concepts focusing on bolstering children’s digital literacy in rural primary schools or communities.
Apart from funding and awards, selected projects will have opportunities for comprehensive capacity-building and dissemination support. To further encourage educator participation, the program will reserve five slots for outstanding project submissions from frontline teacher teams, aiding these teams in implementing and promoting projects on a smaller scale such as within schools.
