Foundation for the Education of Rural Children

FERC Scholarship Committee Interviews Young Scholars

Members of the FERC scholarship committee recently toured rural schools in which their young scholarship recipients study in order to monitor the progress of each student. Frank Weicks, scholarship committee chairman, Glynn Morgan and Norman Robinson, committee members, along with administrators from Region IV Department of Education spent several days going from school to school to sit with the youngsters and talk about their studies and their progress. Yuwan Pujeenaphan, Region IV Administration and member of the scholarship committee, coordinated the tour.

Scholarship students are selected from 120 schools located in five governmental districts, and include both Thai and ethnic hill tribe students. Many of the schools are located in such remote areas that students must board on site. The seven schools visited are spread out over Region IV and each varies in layout and focus. Santisuk School, for instance, is designated a self-sustaining school. Students and teachers, working together, grow much of their food. One school was closed because of concerns that a sick student may have a/H1N1 influenza, but the team will return there at a later date.

The team was delighted to learn that a graduating scholarship recipient from Mae Wang has become the first student from that school to ever attend university. His expressed educational goal on applying for the scholarship was engineering, and he has been admitted into an engineering program of study in Bangkok. They were further interested in the supplementary courses of study that have been undertaken with FERC scholarship funds, including special math and English language courses to upgrade student skills and increase the probability of their being accepted into university.

At the Ban Kad WittayakomSchool in Mae Wang, the FERC scholarship committee members were surprised to be offered a tour of an historic site that is partially located on the grounds of the school. 18,000 Japanese soldiers who were killed in Burma, India and Thailand during World War II are commemorated there at a beautiful shrine.

The FERC scholarship committee and its individual members, as well as members of the board of the foundation may be contacted through its website, www.thai-rural-education.org. Donations to FERC through its website are tax deductible under U.S. tax laws.

last updated: June 25, 2010