For the past two years, a group of secondary school students have been volunteering to tutor underprivileged pupils.
Chloe Wong, 14, started the educational platform "KidshareHK" in March two years ago. That was when schools were suspended because of the pandemic. Chloe was in Primary Six then. With her extra free time, she decided to do something meaningful.
"I heard many underprivileged children were having a difficult time studying at home. So after discussing it with my dad, I decided to start an online platform to help them," she says.
At first, she was just uploading videos with study tips on YouTube. But when she wanted to offer online workshops and tutoring, she realised she could not do it by herself. So she posted on Facebook to recruit other students to join her platform.
Since then, about 20 student tutors have helped teach 250 students. Chloe's YouTube channel now has more than 1,100 subscribers.
"I agreed with Chloe's idea because I also think it's meaningful to tutor children from low-income families," says Hayden Poon, a student in Sham Shui Po. "And I love teaching others. My dream is to have a career in education."
Charlotte Lau, a student in Causeway Bay, learned about KidshareHK from her teachers and started volunteering this March. She wanted to help because she heard how the switch to online classes had not helped underprivileged pupils.
"They have learned less under the pandemic," Charlotte says.
As schools have resumed classes, Chloe is not sure if KidshareHK's students will still have time to attend tutorial sessions. "They become busier after school resumes. They might not have the time to receive our tutoring," she says.
But Hayden and Charlotte are happy to continue their volunteer work. "Teaching others makes us happy," they say.
Five things to know about
1. A volunteer is someone who gives their time to help others, or to raise money for a good cause.
2. There are lots of things you can do to volunteer. You could help to clean up a river, plant trees in your neighbourhood, or deliver meals to people who are sick at home.
3. As a volunteer, you can test out things you have never done before. You may find something new you enjoy.
4. Volunteering helps other people and can make you feel good too. Whether you are donating your old clothes, bringing food to elderly people, or helping to care for pets at an animal shelter, you are taking action to make the world better.
5. Many groups need volunteers. You can ask your teacher to get started.
