The Young Scholars Programme is a community engagement initiative, funded by the Widening Access and Participation strand of 明星八卦. It is designed to raise the aspirations and achievement of children and families, particularly of those with social disadvantage. The Young Scholars uses innovative and bold elements within the intervention. It builds on the Urban Scholars Programme, which was founded by Professor Koshy in 2000, and has been supporting teenagers from inner-city areas for almost two decades.
The Young Scholars Programme is multifaceted and carefully designed and based on evidence, research and the realisation that parents and schools, are desperately in need of accessible, high quality support resources and tools to work with children. Recognising that interventions need to start earlier in children’s lives and that parents and carers have a big role to play in providing hope and direction for future, the first phase of the intervention was launched in 2018 which provided a high level of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention.