Zuoyebang Offers Free Online Safety Classes for Girls

Through the company's after-school live-stream mentoring platform Zuoyebang Yike, girls around the country can watch online courses about how to protect themselves.

The move reflects the fact that a large number of girls around the world are suffering discrimination, humiliation and oppression, and lack of knowledge about safety, especially when they are young.

With an aim of raising awareness of how to protect girls' rights, the Beijing-based company has divided its online courses into three parts -- teaching underage girls to cherish their bodies, raising awareness of sexual abuse and explaining how to cope with emergencies.

"Through this program, we hope to spread knowledge of safety to children across the nation by taking advantages of our novel technologies. We aim to protect children from potential risks such as sexual assault," said Hou Jianbin, founder and CEO of Zuoyebang.

"Education does not only refer to knowledge from textbooks, also includes health and safety. The company will ramp up efforts to deliver high-quality resources to more children," added Hou.

Zuoyebang Yike covers subjects from primary school to high school. Zuoyebang's platform also allows students to take pictures of their questions and search for answers as well as mentoring.

While high-quality education resources including teachers can be found in major cities in China, the company leverages technology to offer students from third and fourth-tier cities a platform to access these kind of information.

The newly launched program is also part of a broader cooperation with the China Foundation of Culture and Arts for Children. The foundation has launched a specific fund for the protection of girls.

Sun Xuemei, founder of the CFCAC fund for girls, along with other volunteers at the foundation, will teach the live-stream courses. According to Zuoyebang, the courses have attracted a wide attention with one course watched more than 140,000 times in a week.

In addition, the company has also joined hands with Tsinghua University to build "dream schools" in underdeveloped areas, such as Hebei, Sichuan, Guizhou and Hainan provinces.

Besides volunteer teachers, the company also offers online courses taught by some elite teachers. With years of experience in the field, these online teachers have unique methods of teaching, making difficult points easier for students to grasp.

"As an education technology company, we will continue to do charity work in an innovative way. In the future, we will continue to fill the gap in education resources through advanced technologies," added Hou.

SOURCE Zuoyebang