Helping poor students go to school
The Credit Fund for students has been launched since March 1998 in line with the PM’s Decision No.51/1998/QD-TTg. With the instruction on focusing sources on training human resources to meet timely for development in the new period, the fund has really gone into life as the PM issued Decision No.157/2007/QD-TTg on credit for students.
As for Binh Duong province, after 5 years (2007-2012) of implementing the decision, thousands of needy students have enjoyed their study. According to a report of Bank for Social Policies’ Binh Duong branch, as of Sept. 30, 2012, the unit reached the total loan sales of VND266,973mil with 30,043 turns of students.
Doan Thi Phan in hamlet 8, Tuong Binh Hiep commune, Thu Dau Mot city – a single mom taking care of 3 children registered to receive loans from the credit fund to inspire her children’s learning. “Without the fund, I can not afford to support my children’s study. I’m very happy and hope that my children will become good citizens in the future”, she said.
Another case is in Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai in Binh Quoi B, Binh Chuan ward, Thuan An town. As a poor student, Mai has enjoyed the credit fund to pursue her study at the HCMC University of Law. “I still remember the day that I received the admission notification letter from the HCMC University of Law. At that time, I was very happy but very worried about my difficult circumstance. After that, I have enjoyed loans to continue my study”, Mai shared.
A wide dissemination
The provincial Bank for Social Policies has actively cooperated with localities and mass media to disseminate the credit fund widely in a bid to help people and sectors learn about the program and to ensure a public and democratic implementation of the program.
In addition, the provincial Bank for Social Policies has constantly launched many measures to reinforce and improve operational quality of the fund. Until now, the entire province has had 1,515 teams of deposit and loan covering quarters and hamlets as well as transaction locations under the bank across 88 out of 91 communes, wards.
Under the program, objects benefiting from the credit fund include local poor students and pupils, demobees, learners of rural vocational training project. Process of borrowing loans is very simple, poor students and pupils only submit copies of admission notification letters to teams of deposit and loan at their localities. These teams will disburse loans to them with a loan of maximum VND11 million a year with the interest rate of 0.65%.
Vo Van Duc, vice director of the provincial Bank for Social Policies’ Binh Duong branch said that the bank in cooperation with the provincial department of Education and Training, local authorities builds capital plans to ensure that no student should drop education due to lack of tuition fees.
In the next 5 years, the bank will continue implementing the provincial People’s Committee’s instructions to complete the set goals of timely disbursing for eligible objects, revoking and solving debts and so on.
However, the bank’s leaders also admitted that People’s Committees at some communes and wards have yet to complete surveys and recognitions on poor students and work on dissemination has yet to be implemented widely.
To uphold achievements and improve difficulties, Vo Van Duc affirmed “In the coming time, the bank will continue spurring dissemination on the credit fund to help the poor and other privileged objects approach preferential loans as well as improving operational quality of teams of deposit and loan”.
Reported by T.Ly, D.Tuan – Translated by A.C
