The Ho Chi Minh City Sponsor Association for the Poor Patient yesterday held a ceremony to offer scholarships to 500 needy and disabled students in HCMC’s district 12 and Binh Chanh and the Mekong delta provinces of Vinh Long and Tien Giang.
Each scholarship is worth VND1.2 million (US$53.4) and 20 textbooks sponsored by Sai Gon Tourism Corporation.
This is the fifth time that the Tourism Corporation has sponsored scholarships to students from low-income families and disabled students. For 5 years, the company has supported over 2,400 scholarships worth VND2.9 billion (US$129,108).
Moreover, from 2003 to now the corporation has supported the Association’s programs including saving children with heart problems and bringing light to blind people with total expenditure of VND6.1 billion (US$271,572)
For the academic year 2015-2016, many organizations and individuals in and out of the country, the Association and its branches have provided 1,693 scholarships to students from meager-income families and disabled students, totaling at VND1.8 billion (US$80,136).
In related news, the National Fund for Vietnamese Children in coordination with People’s Committee in the central highlands province of Lam Dong August 28 held scholarship-giving ceremony to disadvantaged in the province. Vietnamese Vice President and Chairwoman of the National Fund for Vietnamese Children Nguyen Thi Doan, awarded 120 scholarships, worth VND2 million (US$89) each, to disadvantaged studious children and children of social policy families.
Scholarship program launched by the National Fund for Vietnamese Children since 2012 aiming to encourage disadvantaged children to overcome difficulties to study well and to help them continue their learning, reducing the rate of drop-outs because of family’s hard condition.
Till now, the program has offered scholarships to 8,734 children in 63 cities and provinces nationwide, totaling at VND25 billion (US$ 1,124,515).
