Smart watches with calorie-tracker for 11,000 students

About 11,000 digital watches with a new feature that tracks calories burned will be distributed in 2025 under the POSB Smart Buddy programme, which lets students tap the watch to pay at canteen stalls and bookshops.

- Sarah Koh

The roll-out follows the completion of a three-year memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education to have all 335 participating schools here equipped with contactless payment terminals. There are a total of 351 schools—primary and secondary schools, junior colleges and the Millennia Institute—here.

POSB said it expects to register 320,000 students on the programme by the end of 2025, up from the 230,000 students in 253 schools the bank engaged in 2024.

"Our ongoing efforts include equipping young learners with the right tools, providing age-appropriate education and offering them real-world opportunities to practise healthy money habits," said Mr Calvin Ong, head of DBS Singapore's consumer banking group.

Launched in 2017, the Smart Buddy programme is the world's first in-school wearable tech savings and payments solution. School vendors enter the amount for a meal or item into the payment system, and students tap their watch on a contactless terminal to pay. Through an app paired with the watch, POSB and DBS customers can manage their children's allowance and spending habits.