19 December 2012

Singapore, 19 December 2012 – StarHub believes in empowering the youth of today, especially those from less privileged families, to help them realise and develop their potential.

With that belief, StarHub is sponsoring the tuition for some 186 children and youth from lower-income families in the Fengshan-Jade district for 2013. In 2012, StarHub had sponsored the tuition fees for 165 students there. The children come from households that typically earn less than $2,500 a month. The sponsorship amount of $165,000 covers the tuition for two or three subjects for each of the 186 students, ranging from Primary One to ‘N’ and ‘O’ Levels.

The tuition sponsorship has already seen some fruit, with some student beneficiaries clinching top positions in their class and level, earning praise and compliments from their teachers.

“Everyone should have a chance to follow and fulfill their dreams, and we want to give the less privileged children and youth a helping hand to do just that,” said Mr Neil Montefiore, CEO, StarHub. “By providing these children with the funds necessary for tuition, they will be on a more even footing academically with their classmates who are better off financially. Hopefully, with improved grades, they will also have a greater sense of self worth and higher self esteem.”

In conjunction with StarHub’s tuition sponsorship, 12 employees from the info-communications provider’s Marketing and Products division distributed stationery kits to 60 of the children who will be receiving the sponsored tuition next year. They had earlier spent a divisional lunch with their colleagues packing the stationery kits for the children.

“Instead of just having a good lunch, we thought it would be a good idea to bond over a more worthwhile activity,” explained Ms Iris Wee, Vice President of Home Solutions & Content, StarHub. “Children are the cornerstone of any family, and as StarHub is sponsoring the children’s tuition, we thought it would be meaningful to come together to provide the children with materials they could use in the coming academic year, and help relieve their parents of the burden of having to buy such materials.”

The StarHub employees also mingled with the children, playing games and bonding over light refreshments.

“It is very heart warming to know that there are still large corporations around like StarHub that remember the less fortunate and are willing to continue to support them in their times of difficulty,” said Mr Eugene Low, Chairman, Fengshan Jade Residents’ Committee.