Bastille's Story: Million Tech's AI Library System Sparks Children's Imagination and Enhances Their Reading Interest

Founded in 1987, Million Tech started with barcode technology. With the development of AI, Million Tech turned its business focus to smart education, developing a smart library system and the Library GO AI platform to stimulate children's imagination and increase their reading interest via the assistance of AI. Moreover, such a smart system has also enhanced the efficiency of organizing books and shortened the working hours from 3 weeks involving a large amount of manpower to half a day or even an hour.

Mr. Nelson Tse, the founder and CEO of Million Tech, Photo by Bastille Post

During its 38 years of operation, many retail groups have used the barcode and POS systems developed by the enterprise. Moreover, hospitals and the Legislative Council Library, which owns a 50,000-volume collection, have also adopted the enterprise's technology to organize files at present. The founder & CEO of Million Tech, Mr. Nelson Tse, stated that the enterprise has persisted in focusing on solving practical problems. Starting with barcode technology and evolving into the development of AI educational technology, the enterprise has witnessed the power of AI to truly help teachers reduce their workload and increase students' reading interest, dedicated to making knowledge a priority in this distracting era.

The RFID Technology Accelerates Book Borrowing and Management

Million Tech's smart library system adopts RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology as its core technology, replacing the traditional barcode system to improve library operational efficiency significantly. Traditionally, taking stock of 10,000 books would take three weeks, involving a great deal of manpower. As for now, with the assistance of RFID technology, it can be accomplished in half a day or even an hour, freeing teacher-librarians from tedious administrative work and allowing them to focus on promoting reading activities.

Million Tech's smart library system adopts RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology as its core technology, replacing the traditional barcode system to improve library operational efficiency significantly. Photo by Bastille Post

Regarding book borrowing, the system supports borrowing multiple books at once, increasing the speed of library service by more than three times. Students can borrow more books during breaks, accessing knowledge more quickly. Furthermore, the system also possesses flexible deployment capabilities; for instance, book lockers can be set up outside the library, or exclusive bookshelves can be placed during Reading Week activities, making borrowing unrestricted by space.

Mr. Nelson Tse shared that over 100 primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong have already adopted this system. According to the school responses, a significant reduction in teachers' administrative burden, an increase in the volumes of books that students borrow, and a gradual development of reading habits have all been achieved. One teacher even filmed a video showcasing the fast speed of book borrowing, praising the system for "revitalizing the library." Furthermore, by integrating the data analysis function, the system can also track students' borrowing preferences and provide teachers with lists of personalized book recommendations to further optimize library resource allocation.

The Library GO AI Platform: Hong Kong's First AI-Powered Library Management System Based on KOHA

In addition, Million Tech independently developed Library GO, Hong Kong's first campus reading promotion platform based on KOHA with the application of AI.

Million Tech independently developed Library GO, Hong Kong's first campus reading promotion platform based on KOHA with the application of AI. Photo source: Million Tech

Mr. Nelson Tse said that Library GO not only contains traditional functions such as retaining complete borrowing records, data input, etc., but also turns libraries smarter and more interactive via AI. By transforming AI into a bridge connecting reading and creation, Library GO has allowed students to step further from "finishing reading a book" to "reinterpreting the story in their own way", forging the library into a paradise of creativity and learning.

After reading a book, students can simply input their reading reports, reflections, or imaginative descriptions into the platform and receive unique AI images with the system's instant transformation of texts. Besides, the system can also print the images into physical cards or on daily necessities such as reusable bags, etc., allowing students to experience the sense of accomplishment that "my ideas can be turned into something tangible," greatly enhancing their reading engagement and creative desire.

The system can print the AI images into physical cards. Photo by Bastille Post

The system can also print the AI images on daily necessities such as reusable bags. Photo source: Million Tech

The library of CNEC Lui Ming Choi Primary School has adopted the system. The Principal, Mr. Leung Hon Kei, stated that the school library is no longer a place for merely borrowing books, but a core space for promoting reading and creativity after the utilization of the smart library system: "The smart library system makes borrowing books more convenient for students. As a consequence, they have increased their interest in reading. Moreover, teachers can also benefit from having less administrative workload, such as book counting, allowing them to have more time organizing reading promotion activities and assisting students to enhance their reading interest and habits."

Mr. Leung Hon Kei, the Principal of CNEC Lui Ming Choi Primary School, Photo by Bastille Post

The AI Picture Book Cover Improvisation Competition: Inspiring Extemporaneous Creativity

The enterprise recently collaborated with CNEC Lui Ming Choi Primary School to hold the first AI Picture Book Cover Improvisation Competition in Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung, and Tsing Yi. The competition focused on "improvisational creation," with students uploading their reading reflections to the Library GO platform, where AI instantly generated picture book images. The entire process required no prior preparation, avoiding excessive parental intervention and emphasizing children's pure, extemporaneous imagination, allowing their boundless creativity to be truly seen.

The generated images can be made into AI creative reading cards (printed as physical cards for collection) or printed on eco-friendly bags, becoming unique souvenirs for reading. The judges awarded prizes based on the works' creativity, their connection to the story content, and their overall expressive effect.

Million Tech collaborated with CNEC Lui Ming Choi Primary School to hold the first AI Picture Book Cover Improvisation Competition in Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung, and Tsing Yi. Photo by Bastille Post

The principal stated, "Previously, technological limitations prevented children from realizing their boundless imaginations. Nevertheless, with the help of AI tools nowadays, they can turn their creativity into anything they like. As for children's growth, reading is especially important. The parental reading and the establishment of children's values ​​are often realized through books."

He said the core goal of the competition was to stimulate students' creativity. Therefore, they adopted the "reverse thinking" technique from the SCAMPER creative thinking method, guiding children to think about innovative adaptations of classic stories. For example, the teachers would discuss with students whether the tortoise and the hare had to compete or whether they would have the possibility for cooperation. The school hopes that moral and emotional education can be naturally conducted via picture book creation, allowing students to more deeply understand the essence of stories during the process of hands-on adaptation and creation.

The principal stated that the school plans to introduce more AI elements in the future. Photo by Bastille Post

The principal also stated that the school plans to introduce more AI elements in the future, such as screenless reading aids, the classroom's meta-human project, and an AI Fitness system, to naturally integrate AI technology into every aspect of daily learning, making it an invisible partner to assist students' exploration and growth.

Mr. Nelson Tse said, "When we see even kindergarten students can use AI to transform their ideas into presentable artworks, we feel our belief has been further strengthened: AI's role is not to replace children's creativity, but rather to become a powerful tool, helping them turn their boundless imaginations into a tangible reality. Cultivating a mindset of collaborating with technology and realizing creativity from a young age will provide them with a significant advantage in the future."

Plans to Expand the Markets of Macau and the Belt and Road Countries

Looking ahead, Million Tech will continue to develop its layout in the field of smart education, such as exploring the development space of e-book management, AI fitness tracking, and self-learning platforms. Mr. Nelson Tse stated that the enterprise would continue to collaborate with schools, truly solving practical pain point problems of principals, teachers, and students through continuous dialogue and listening, making technology a substantial support in the educational field.

Furthermore, the enterprise also plans to gradually expand its business, first exporting its experience and products to Macau, and then considering entering the markets of Southeast Asia and Belt and Road countries, bringing Hong Kong's smart education schemes to a wider development stage.

MINAB, Iran (AP) — The sun set over this southern Iranian city, and Heydar Sadeghi was where he can be found almost every evening: on a bench next to the shattered remains of his grandson’s school. His face was soaked with tears.

A banner strung around the rubble showed the faces of children and teachers killed here by an American airstrike on Feb. 28, the first day of the war on Iran. Among them are Sadeghi’s 11-year-old grandson Hami and the boy’s mother, Neda Salehizadeh.

“I searched the bodies for my kids, thinking maybe one would be among them,” Sadeghi said Monday evening as he recounted how he rushed to the school in the moments after the explosions. He called out their names, saying, "'Come with me! I’ve come to get you.’ They weren't there,” he said, weeping.

The Shajareh Tayyebeh school has become a place to wrestle with grief and preserve the memories of the dead. Here, relatives try to comprehend the incomprehensible — how around 120 of their children could be snuffed out, just after they'd been dropped off for a day of classes.

At least one U.S. missile hit the school that morning in Minab, according to an Associated Press investigation, but there has been no final accounting of what happened. Iranian state media have said 168 people were killed in the strike, most of them children.

The Trump administration has yet to directly accept the blame or release findings of a Pentagon investigation into the bombing.

For Sadeghi, the day of the strike began as every school day did.

He drove Hami and the boy's 9-year-old sister Nila to school along with their mother, his daughter-in-law Salehizadeh, who was a teacher. As usual, he planned to pick them up at 1 p.m.

“But the bell was rung early — by Trump,” he said.

Hami was a fifth grader who loved soccer and riding his bicycle, Sadeghi said. His body was so mangled in the blast, they could only identify him from the clothes he was wearing, he said.

Nila was pulled alive from the rubble.

“Thank God, she is physically fine,” Sadeghi said. “But mentally, no.”

The girl and her father have moved in with Sadeghi and his wife. The slightest, unexpected noise frightens her. She often goes to bed in her grandmother’s arms but lies awake for much of the night.

Sadeghi said he often invites Nila’s friends to come spend the night, hoping their presence will distract her.

He wants to see Nila smile. So he grieves here at the school away from her.

“I come here and cry,” he said. “Then I go home and dance in front of the girl.”

The school had a girls’ school upstairs and a boys’ school and preschool on the ground floor. Some of the students were children of officers at a Revolutionary Guard base located next to the school; many were local children from Minab, which is populated predominantly by members of Iran's Baluch ethnic minority.

The banner at the site listed 120 students killed – 47 girls and 73 boys – and 26 teachers and staff. Three more children are presumed dead but their bodies were never found.

The governor of Hormozgan province, where Minab is located, has said the damaged building would be preserved to be turned into a memorial and war museum.

Several dozen visitors there Monday evening included relatives of the dead but also out-of-towners who had come to see.

In a government-sponsored mourning ceremony held every evening, men and women – including one in the Guards uniform -- took turns at a microphone, telling wrenching stories about those who died and describing in graphic detail the day of the attack. Some visitors broke down weeping from their accounts.

A separate section of Minab’s cemetery has also been set aside for those killed at the school. Every grave has a photo of the dead, with a shade overhead and artificial grass around so families can sit with their loved ones. Some lay flowers and prayer beads on the graves. Others bring dishes of “shuleh-zard,” a saffron rice pudding eaten at funerals.

At the cemetery, Fatemeh Barani sat by the grave of her daughter, Nasim Neyestani, a second grade teacher at the school. Barani comes several times a week to be with her daughter.

She thinks about her daughter's last hours, which school staffers later described to her, and how everything could have turned out differently.

At around 9 a.m. news came of the airstrikes in the capital Tehran that had hit the compound of Iran’s supreme leader. They didn’t know it at the time, but those initial Israeli strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and much of the top military leadership.

Neyestani was alarmed, fearing wider strikes, and urged the principal to cancel classes and call parents to come collect their children, Barani said, according to what she was told by other staffers. The principal didn’t think that was necessary. But Neyestani began calling the parents of her 22 students herself, urging them to come get their children, Barani said.

Fourteen of Neyestani’s children were picked up before the strike, Barani said. The parents of eight others did not get there in time.

Neyestani took the eight children into the schoolyard, her mother said. But the principal told her to take them into the school’s prayer room, thinking it would be safe.

The prayer room was hit. Barani said her daughter and all eight children with her were killed.

“My daughter’s classroom was mostly left intact,” she said. “Probably if she had been in that classroom, she would not have been killed.”

Details of Barani’s account could not be independently verified, but it meshes with other accounts. The AP’s investigation of the strike found that several teachers called parents to pick up their children before Iran’s government ordered schools closed nationwide at 10:15 a.m. The first missile hit the school about an hour later. Accounts of the strikes posted on banners at the school say three missiles struck. The principals of both the boys and girls schools were among those killed.

After the strikes, Barani's husband and sons went to the school; later, they told her her daughter had been killed.

They found Neyestani’s bag. But Barani said her sons have hidden it from her because they fear seeing it would only hurt her more.

Parents of students who escaped the school because Neyestani had called them visited the family to pay their condolences, but Barani said she was so overwhelmed with grief that she doesn’t remember any of their visits.

She said she still hasn’t been able to enter her daughter’s bedroom.

She talked about how her daughter, who had not married, was rarely idle. She taught in the mornings and worked as a salesperson at a cosmetics store in the evenings. At home, she stayed busy with her hobby making handicrafts, particularly “minakari,” a traditional art of decorating objects with enamel. The enamel work relaxed her, Barani said.

The enamels are still there around the house, a reminder of her daughter.

“Every day, this grief feels fresh again,” Barani said.

A volunteer searches through the rubble of Shajareh Tayyebeh school, shattered by a U.S. airstrike on Feb. 28, in Minab, southern Iran, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Colorful tree and flower decorations remain on the walls of a rubble-strewn classroom at Shajareh Tayyebeh school, damaged in a U.S. airstrike on Feb. 28, in Minab, southern Iran, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Heydar Sadeghi, whose 11-year-old grandson Hami and Hami's mother, Neda Salehizadeh, were killed here in a U.S. airstrike on Feb. 28, stands beside the shattered remains of Hami's school, Shajareh Tayyebeh, in Minab, southern Iran, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Fatemeh Barani, second from right, mourns at the grave of her daughter, Nasim Neyestani, a second-grade teacher killed in a U.S. airstrike on Shajareh Tayyebeh school on Feb. 28, in a section of a cemetery set aside for those killed at the school in Minab, southern Iran, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A cleric takes a photograph at the shattered Shajareh Tayyebeh school, which has become a place of mourning and a memorial to those killed in a U.S. airstrike on Feb. 28, in Minab, southern Iran, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)