Inside a classroom at Cat Hanh kindergarten in Phu Cat District in Binh Dinh Province. — Photo courtesy of the company
Cargill has opened its 96th Cargill Cares school in Viet Nam in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak.
The Hoa Thuy Tien (Daffodil) kindergarten in Dlieya commune in Krong Nang District has four new classrooms, restrooms, a gate, fence and playground to serve 160 students aged three to five years. Most of the students are from the Tay, Nung, E-de, Thai, Muong and Mong ethnic groups.
This is the fifth school facility that Cargill Cares has set up in this Central Highlands province.
In a span of four weeks, Cargill also opened another three new schools for local communities in Viet Nam. They are Cat Hanh kindergarten in Cat Hanh Commune in Phu Cat District in Binh Dinh Province, the Che La ethnic minority primary school in the remote Che La Commune in Xin Man District in Ha Giang Province, and Yen Bong kindergarten in Dong Yen Commune in Yen Bong District in Hoa Binh Province.
The four schools serve around 500 children per year and cost about US$246,000.
All four new school sites are located in rural and remote areas, where people earn their living mainly from crop and animal farming and may lack adequate education facilities for small children.
The existing facilities are out of date and did not meet the demands from the growing number of children in the areas.
Currently, Cargill is working on four other school projects with a strong commitment that by end of 2020, the 100th school for Viet Nam will be completed.
Cargill’s school building programme was established in 1997 to support students in agricultural communities in rural Viet Nam. It is aimed at providing students access to quality education in a safe and conducive environment.
The programme is part of the Cargill Cares Council which is completely employee-led.
Funds come from Cargill customers, partners and employees. Since 1997, around $5.3 million has been raised to build schools that provide quality education to around 15,000 students across 50 provinces every year. — VNS