DBS partners LittleLives to digitise payments
Parents can use app to buy uniforms, pay for field trips, sign up for classes
Singapore
DBS has partnered Singapore-based edutech firm LittleLives to digitalise payments for one in three Singapore pre-schools.
The enhanced LittleLives app will come with in-app payment functions, allowing parents to make payments via PayNow and DBS PayLah!
With the app, parents can purchase school uniforms and pay for their children's field trips as well as sign up for extracurricular classes at their convenience.
This partnership was launched by DBS and LittleLives at the DBS Education Disrupt event held at Marina Bay Financial Centre on Thursday.
Education Minister Ong Ye Kung, who was guest of honour at the event, said: "We will use technology, not to displace and replace teachers, but to augment the way we teach."
The event also featured eight exhibitors showcasing augmented reality, adaptive learning and artificial intelligence solutions.
DBS group head of institutional banking group Tan Su Shan delivered the opening address for the half-day event.Speaking to over 300 educators and tech professionals in attendance, Ms Tan said: "You are giants in the education industry, and DBS wants to be your partner."
She quipped: "We joke about how DBS was called Development Bank of Singapore but Singapore is developed, so we now try to be the 'digital bank of Singapore'."
"If we are digitally great, we should be seamlessly embedded in your personal and business lives," she added. "Your companies get paid, your accounts get reconciled and we disappear into your lives. DBS should also be the 'disappearing bank of Singapore'."
Used by over 750 pre-schools in Singapore, the LittleLives app connects schools with parents. The app allows parents and pre-school teachers to keep track of each pre-schooler's attendance and health records and manage school fees.
"By partnering LittleLives, we hope to take the hassle out of payments so pre-school operators can better manage their cash flow," group head of SME banking Joyce Tee said.
One of the highlights of the event was the guest appearance of social robot Nadine, who appeared over Skype during the closing presentation by Nadia Thalmann, director of the Institute for Media Innovation at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
Modelled after her creator Prof Thalmann, Nadine has a short-term memory for past interactions, allowing her to recall past conversations with a specific individual.
Speaking to The Business Times, Prof Thalmann said: "Nadine is the embodiment of Artificial Intelligence. She has the potential to be a personal coach, to help students advance at their own speed."
