Distributing 320,000 watches to students, what does the Singapore Ministry of Education expect?

(Dan Tri) - About 320,000 Singaporean students at all levels have been given free smart watches to help them learn how to spend money without using cash, monitor their health and learn how to save.

Smartwatches with multiple features continue to be distributed free to Singaporean students. An estimated 320,000 Singaporean students are currently participating in the program.

New watch features are constantly being updated to help students have a smart companion, teaching them many useful skills.

A primary school boy uses an electronic payment application integrated on a smartwatch issued by the Singapore Ministry of Education (Photo: Straits Times).

Recently, this smart watch has integrated a cashless payment feature, so that children can learn how to control spending and save in the digital age.

The program to distribute free smart watches to students is conducted by the Singapore Ministry of Education and a number of accompanying units.

335 schools have participated in this program. Singapore currently has a total of 351 schools at all levels including primary, secondary and pre-university schools.

The goal of integrating cashless payment applications on smart watches is to help students gain early financial knowledge and money management skills.

Launched in 2017, the Singapore Ministry of Education's free smartwatch program has multiple goals.

By partnering with banks to launch a cashless payment app specifically for students, Singapore’s Ministry of Education hopes to help them learn how to spend and save money. Through the app, parents can also monitor how their children spend their money.

The program of distributing free smart watches to students has been widely deployed by the Singapore Ministry of Education (Photo: Straits Times).

Over time, new versions of the watches were introduced and given away free to new groups of students who joined the program. Students with older versions of the watches could purchase the upgraded version at a discounted price of S$40 each (equivalent to VND815,000).

The latest version of the watch can monitor heart rate, measure calories burned during exercise, and guide deep breathing exercises to help students reduce stress...

Many Singaporean students said they were excited about the smartwatches. Grade 5 student Louis Yap said he uses the watch to track his heart rate while exercising. He also said he would like the watch to have a location feature and automatically send information to parents.

A fifth-grader named Karena Cai said she has been using the smartwatch for three years and especially likes the feature of tracking the amount of money she saves on the watch.

The bank, in collaboration with the Singapore Ministry of Education, has also launched a savings incentive policy. The unit will reward students with an additional 10 Singapore dollars per month (more than 200,000 VND) if they save money in their accounts.

“I also use a watch to count my steps. Every day, my sister and I compete to see who can walk more,” Karena excitedly shared.

Louis Yap and Karena Cai have made it a habit to use smart watches every day (Photo: Straits Times).

Financial knowledge appropriate to the students' age will also be sent to them by the bank through smart watches. This knowledge will help them understand more about current issues happening in the country and around the world .

The bank will provide simple analysis to help children understand how these issues can affect the way we spend and save, thereby improving their knowledge of personal finance.

Other financial knowledge includes building healthy savings habits and distinguishing between essential needs and non-essential wants.

Singapore's Ministry of Education hopes that with this program, the lion island nation will have a generation of young people who are tech-savvy and confident in managing personal finances in the digital age.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/phat-320000-dong-ho-cho-hoc-sinh-bo-giao-duc-singapore-ky-vong-gi-20250730114848532.htm