Zuoyebang offers girls free online safety classes

After-school livestreaming courses aim to raise awareness

Chinese online education company Zuoyebang has launched free classes to teach girls about safety, reflecting wider efforts to raise awareness of the subject.

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

The move reflects the fact that a large number of girls around the world are suffering from discrimination, humiliation and oppression, and lack 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 awareness of safety issues to children across the nation by taking advantage 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 not only refers to knowledge from textbooks, it also includes health and safety. The company will ramp up efforts to deliver high-quality resources to more children," Hou added.

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 Chinese cities, the company leverages technology to offer students from third- and fourth-tier cities a platform to access 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 livestreaming courses. According to Zuoyebang, the livestreaming courses have attracted wide attention with one 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 in Hebei, Sichuan, Guizhou and Hainan provinces.

Besides volunteer teachers, the Beijing-based company also offers online courses taught by some elite teachers from cities. With years of experience in the field, these online teachers have a unique method 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. We will continue to fill the gap in education resources through advanced technologies," Hou added.