Inside a classroom at Cát Hanh kindergarten in Phù Cát District in Bình Định Province. — Photo courtesy of the company

 HCM CITY — Cargill has opened its 96th Cargill Cares school in Việt Nam in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk.

The Hoa Thủy Tiên (Daffodil) kindergarten in Đliêya commune in Krông Năng 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 Tày, Nùng, Ê-đê, Thái, Mường and Mông 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 Việt Nam. They are Cat Hanh kindergarten in Cát Hanh Commune in Phù Cát District in Bình Định Province, the Chế Là ethnic minority primary school in the remote Chế Là Commune in Xín Mần District in Hà Giang Province, and Yên Bồng kindergarten in Đông Yên Commune in Yên Bồng District in Hòa Bình 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The existing facilities are out of date and did not meet the demands from the growing number of children in the areas.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 Việt Nam will be completed.

Cargill’s school building programme was established in 1997 to support students in agricultural communities in rural Việt 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