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Description of project in brief
Provide scholarship support to 500 gifted but poor students who may likely have to drop out of the education system due to poverty. The scholarship is worth 3,000 baht per student per year or a total of 1,500,000 baht.
The target group covers lower secondary school students who have been selected and certified by their schools as economically poor students but with good grades (grade point average 3.00 or higher) and have good behavior.
The scholarship is expected to help students remain in school and focus more on their studies instead of worrying whether they could continue going to school or not due to monetary problems. With continuing support, the students should be able to achieve educational attainment needed for employment and will have a better chance of taking care of their own families and breaking the cycle of poverty in their families.
Project implementation timeline
November 2023 to 30 June 2024
Project target area
Secondary schools in rural areas in the northeastern region of Thailand.
Causes of problem and solutions
The hand-to-mouth existence of the student’s families forces the whole families to struggle for the most basic necessities just to survive daily and have nothing left to support their children’s education. It is a reality that many students from poor families rely on school lunches to have at least one assured meal a day.
Without scholarship support, the children of poverty-stricken families have the highest chance of being left out of the educational system, which will only contribute in maintaining the life of poverty that they are currently facing.
Scholarship support may be seen by many as an educational support, however, for the children of the poor families, scholarship is a matter of having a future or nothing at all, and they will still need to work doubly hard to overcome many obstacles.
A number of poor students lack qualified adult guidance as they come from broken families and end up living with their old grandparents who are ill-equipped to provide educational guidance. Some end up living with relatives who are also generally poor and/or have their own children to worry about.
In addition, many children live in unsafe neighborhood where drugs and other anti-social activities exist.
Non-education conducive environment is another problem. Being poor, many live in makeshift or dilapidated houses with no proper supply of water and electricity so students have to literally study by the kerosene light. Students from poor families must also juggle between studying and extending a helping hand to the families’ effort of earning money for food.
In response to this problem, EDF Foundation has launched a scholarship program to provide poor and underprivileged students in rural Thailand with the opportunity to access at least the basic education (Grade7-9) without having to worry about school expenses.
Although the EDF Scholarship Program does not consider academic performance as a criterion for awarding scholarships due to many educational and environmental limitations that poor students face daily, we have been seeing repeatedly that many students from poor families are able to maintain good grades.
Opinions and comments by teachers in charge of the EDF scholarship program in each school agree that poor but high-performing students should receive additional support and financial assistance so they can seek for higher educational levels, such as high school or vocational.
As a result, EDF Foundation has launched a campaign to raise scholarship funds for “Students who study well but are poor” (cumulative GPA 3.00 or higher) to pursue lower secondary school level.
Some of the gifted students but poor that will receive scholarship support from the project in the coming academic year 2024.
Natthakritta (Nam Sai) Grade 7, Sisaket Province (GPA 4.00)
My parents were separated, so my mother took me to live with grandparents. My mother cooks Thai desserts for sale and is the only breadwinner in the family. Every day I get up early to help my mother prepare desserts. I also sell them to my friends at school. I study hard because I want to be a teacher.
Kamolchat (Konthong) Grade 7, Nakhon Phanom Province (GPA 4.00)
My parents got divorced. Currently, I live with my father and grandmother. My father is a menial worker with unstable income. Thus, my grandmother has to help making handicraft from banana leaves for extra income. After returning from school, I help with housework, help pick flowers and banana leaves.
Detsakda (Nokia) Grade 7, Maha Sarakham Province (GPA 4.00)
I have only one school uniform. After school, I have to rush home to wash it for wearing the next day. I walk to school every day. The road is rough and muddy, especially during the rainy season. Even though life is difficult, I have never given up. I have been studying hard and every year I have been the top of my class.
Tasphon (Ohm) Grade 7, Sisaket Province (GPA 3.80)
My mother works as a tailor, while I am a temple boy. Every morning, I help monks carry things while doing alms rounds in exchange for food and desserts to take back home for my grandmother, mother and siblings. However, I have never thought about abandoning my education. I have consistently earned very good grades in school.
Project implementation procedures
April - May 2024: EDF Foundation accepts applications from students who wish to receive scholarships from participating schools. The foundation screens the provided details in the application along with other documentations such as family information and photographs taken in their homes.
The selection criteria are based on-
1) Be a student who will be entering Grade 8 or 9 in the academic year 2024.
2) GPA in the most recent semester was not less than 3.00.
3) From poor family with annual average income of 50,000-70,000 baht.
4) Not the children of government officials, state enterprise employees, local government employees or regular paid employees.
5) Be a person who is interested and committed to studying. Have good behavior or be a student with outstanding academic ability.
June 2024: EDF Foundation accepts scholarship donations for the 2024 academic year until end June 2024.
July - August 2024: Transfer of scholarship funds to students who meet the selection criteria. After the students receive the scholarship funds through their bank accounts, teachers in charge of the EDF scholarship program at each school will return a copy of the student's bank account balance to the foundation as evidence confirming of fund transfers.
September – October 2024: EDF Foundation reports the result of the campaign through EDF website.
Target beneficiaries of the project
Grade 8 or 9 students who study well but are poor (grade point average 3.00 or higher) who are studying at secondary schools in the northeastern region of Thailand.
Budget spending plan
|
No. |
Details |
Total |
Total (Thai baht) |
|
1 |
Scholarship for eligible students |
500 students
(3,000 baht each)
|
1,500,000 |
For money transfer via ttb bank account, please inform
[email protected] or Line: @edfthai about your donation to receive a tax deduction receipt.
For more information about the project, please contact the EDF Public Relations Department at 662-579-9209-11 (Monday-Friday from 09.00-16.30 hrs), email [email protected].
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