On May 21st, 2020, the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of Nguyen Binh Khiem secondary school took place in Tinh Bien district, An Giang province. This project is expected to be completed in October with an estimated cost of US$75,404, of which US$50,358 comes from Premier Oil and US$25,046 is counterpart funding from the local authorities.
Nguyen Binh Khiem Secondary School is the only secondary school in the commune and has no satellite site. The school has nine classrooms serving eighteen classes with 634 students. There are four temporary classrooms that were built a long time ago constructed using iron sheets and wooden columns. Due to the severely damaged structure, these temporary rooms are no longer safe for students. Facing the risk of collapsing anytime, the school needs three new classrooms to replace these temporary rooms.
In this project, saigonchildren will build three new classrooms and renovate the school’s playground. As with all other school building projects of saigonchildren, we will also provide training on construction supervision to the Community Management Unit (formed by saigonchildren with teachers, parents, and local authority) to equip them with basic skills and knowledge to supervise the construction on a daily basis in order to ensure the school is of high quality, and that it suits their needs. After completion, workshops on school maintenance will be run in order to raise awareness of the teachers and children on the importance of school hygiene and equip them with the skills to keep the secondary school in good condition.
During this ceremony, 70 disadvantaged students of the school also received packages with food staples from the donor to help them overcome the struggles of COVID-19.
Through this partnership with the donor, the local community, and the local authorities, saigonchildren continues its mission to improve learning environment and provide access to quality education to disadvantaged children of Vietnam.