Projecten > East Meets West Foundation
SPELL-scholarships
The Scholarship Program to Enhance Literacy and Learning (SPELL) gives a scholarship to poor children for tuition fees, bicycles, books, tutoring, health nsurance and uniforms. If children continue going to school and getting good results, they will get the scholarship until the end of high school. EMW started this project in 2004 and has more than 4,000 students receiving a scholarship (2008). In the school year 2008/2009 500 new students received a scholarship.
Objective
The main aim of the SPELL programme is to raise the level of education of poor children so they will have a better life than their parents have. By giving scholarships, Smart Tulip wants to prevent that students drop-out of school.
Where and whom
In the six poorest provinces of Vietnam, students are selected who qualify for a scholarship. The family income of the students who qualify for a scholarship is on average lower than €8 per month. This is too a little to let the children go to school. From the government they do not get any support, therefore these families are about to get their children from school to help them in the fields. EMW selects, in cooperation with the local governments, the poor families and visits the children who get a scholarship at least 1 time per year. Students who get a scholarship are mostly in 3rd or 4th grade of primary school and get a scholarship until the end of their school career (12th grade).
Results of SPELL
The results of the programme are promising. In the first three years of the programme only 2.9% of the students with a scholarship have dropped-out. Half of these students left school because of moving, sickness or death. Meanwhile there have been given more than 1,000 bicycles to students in 6th grade who live further than 2km from school.
Unfortunately we see that for a number of students the study results are getting worse as their school career progresses. By means of tutoring we try to ensure that these students continue to get good results. Smart Tulip supports these children where necessary by financing tutoring classes.
Who gets support of Smart Tulip
Smart Tulip supports 200 children in the SPELL programme. 100 students (of which 47 girls) have already received a scholarship since 2004, they are now in 8th grade of secondary school and live in the province Quang Ngai. Smart Tulip has supported these children since the school year 2007/2008.
In addition, Smart Tulip gives 100 students a scholarship, started as from the school year 2008/2009 (4th or 5th grade primary school).
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