SINGAPORE – Students from all polytechnics, universities and the Institute of Technical Education will be able to tap free credits to build applications with minimal coding, such as a website that helps one prepare for job interviews.

This latest initiative by Amazon Web Services (AWS) adds to a list of free or subsidised AI programmes that have been rolled out in the past months, which boosts Singapore’s efforts to develop an AI-fluent population.

Learners above the age of 18 with a valid tertiary e-mail address will be eligible for free 1,000 credits to use Kiro – a development platform built by AWS that lets users create apps with prompts in natural language.

Students from Republic Polytechnic have led the way in adoption by using Kiro to build their final-year projects since April after the school signed a Memorandum of Understanding with AWS in 2025, said the firm in a statement on May 6.

“Using Kiro is not just about speeding up development but also teaching students to think systematically and build reliable products,” said Mr William Tan, senior lecturer at RP’s School of Infocomm.

For instance, instead of instructing Kiro to build with a vague prompt, a student building an interview preparation app would be prompted to be specific about goals, user workflows, target users, features and design interface.

This will include documenting necessary steps such as a login and a profile page, an interview page, a microphone button to allow users to record their response and a results page with a qualitative analysis of their performance.

“Students who plan well build more efficiently, and get more out of every credit,” said Ms Elsie Tan, AWS Singapore’s worldwide public sector country manager.

She added that the credit model and methodology encourages users to think deeper and build more from what they have been given. On average, 1,000 credits will be enough to take students from their instructions to a minimum viable product.

The resul...