Fourteen years ago, after a flash flood hit a village in the northern province of Yen Bai, Thao A Khai, then-four-year-old ethnic boy, lost all relatives. Benefactors brought him to Ho Chi Minh City and helped him go to school with Vu A Dinh scholarship fund.
Truong My Hoa, former vice president of Vietnam and the chairwoman of the fund, said at a press conference held in Ho Chi Minh City that the story of Thao A Khai is one of thousand stories of ethnic minority students who can continue learning thanks to the scholarship’s assistance.
Being informed as one of 50 Vu A Dinh scholarship recipients, ethnic Palang Thi Hai Yen could not hold back her delight. Coming from a poor family in a mountainous village in Tay Giang district in the central province of Quang Nam, Yen’s education might stop without the scholarship fund’s assistance.
Presently, she is a staff of Tay Giang district’s Section of Economy and Infrastructure.
She sent her gratitude to the scholarship organizer, saying that the scholarship fund has given a helping hand to disadvantaged students from mountainous regions to islands and border crossing.
It has been a real encouragement for needy ethnic students, she said.
Since its establishment, the fund has received nearly VND373 billion ($16 million) from 5,000 individuals and organizations. The fund has given away 85,000 annual scholarships to outstanding ethnic minority students in mountainous areas.
The fund director Nguyen Duc Quang said the fund is focusing on training work skills and finding out jobs for scholarship recipients. The fund has three big projects which have contributed to raising 774 students of ethnic minority groups in 53 cities and provinces.
Of them, 278 finished senior high schools while 116 continued pursuing higher education. Especially, some of them received scholarships to study in Russia, China, Malaysia, and Japan. All returned to serve the country after graduating.
Established in 1999, the fund was named after Vu A Dinh, an ethnic Mong in the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien. He was bestowed with the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces in 2000.
