Govt urged to let more kids 'Strive and Rise'
Community activists on Sunday called on the government to allow more children to take part in its Strive and Rise Programme, which pairs pupils from underprivileged backgrounds with volunteer mentors. The Society for Community Organisation (SoCo) said it recently polled 315 children from low-income families and 80 percent said they would be interested in joining the programme. But only 2,800 places are available at present, with the scheme limited to pupils in the first three years of secondary school. The group noted that more than 274,000 children were living in poverty in 2020, according to a government report. "We suggest the government to increase the beneficiary number for more children, and include children there from different levels, for example primary school or all secondary school students because quite many students look forward to [joining] this programme and they think it [benefits] their development," said SoCo deputy director Sze Lai-shan. Sze suggested the number of places should be at least 10,000 when the next round of the scheme is launched soon. SoCo said it interviewed around 30 children who had taken part in Strive and Rise and 70 percent said they were happy with the programme.  Some, however, said they felt they didn't get enough time with their mentors.  Becky, 16, told reporters the scheme had allowed her to visit a variety of places she wouldn't normally get to go, such as the Science Museum.  However, she said, her mentor wasn't always available to meet her and places for activities were sometimes limited. "We used mobile phones to keep in touch... once a month," Becky explained.  "If I was interested in a certain activity, I would contact my mentor because some of the activities required the mentor's presence." The teenager added that because her mentor was busy working in the banking industry, they only got to meet five or six times over a year – a far cry from the monthly meetings envisaged.