The Yuvabadhana Foundation has been providing scholarships to disadvantaged children for more than 30 years. In 2021, more than 74.0 million Thai baht (equivalent to USD 2.1m) was provided in the form of scholarships to enable almost 9,132 disadvantaged students throughout Thailand to stay in full-time education. Thanks to the generous donations of various organizations and individuals, in this academic year 2022 the Yuvabadhana Foundation is able to support some 6,467 students (data updated as of 31 December 2022) harnessing a total of 50 million Thai baht to provide educational opportunities for indigent children and youth. The foundation supports students through scholarships and mentoring until graduation.
Yuvabadhana’s Scholarship Program
The scholarship program of the Yuvabadhana Foundation has been running for more than 30 years, having been established in 1992. The scholarships provided through this program are given to children entering the equivalent of 7th Grade until graduation, or the equivalent in technical education. In this academic year 2022, the Yuvabadhana Foundation is able to support some 6,467 students (data updated as of 31 December 2022) and 9,132 scholarship students have already graduated thanks to Yuvabadhana’s support.
Scholarship Type
Common Core Education Scholarship
A six-year continuing scholarship for disadvantaged Grade 6 students to enable them to complete secondary school. Each scholarship grants 3,500 Baht per semester, or 7,000 Baht a year.
Vocational School Education Scholarship
A three-year continuing scholarship for disadvantaged Grade 9 students to enable them to complete vocational school. Each scholarship grants 7,000 Baht per semester, or 14,000 Baht a year.
Special Scholarship is a scholarship for special purposes or unforeseen circumstances. For example:
- Scholarships during natural disaster
- Scholarships for art education
- Scholarships for higher education
Our Scholarship Selection Criteria
We deliver scholarships to children whose families are particularly impoverished, who without scholarship support would not be able to send their children to school. Each year, Yuvabadhana communicates information on its scholarship program through its website, Office of Basic Education Commission (OBEC) website, and social media channels including Facebook, Instagram, and Line. We also send letters to some 183 local primary education authorities, 42 secondary education authorities and schools throughout the country requesting the assistance of principals, teachers and school administrators to help select students who are in particular need of the foundation’s support. The criteria the foundation uses when making its final scholarship selection is whether our support will be vital in continuing a child’s education at the secondary level, as well as the poverty levels of their families. The average monthly income of the families we support through scholarships is 3,000 Thai baht per month (approximately $90), as such the foundation’s selection criteria is in line with the Ministry of Education’s criteria for poor students.
Further Support for Our Scholarship Students
Apart from providing financial support, the Yuvabadhana Foundation also strives to empower its scholarship students by providing guidance and encouragement through a active mentoring and a volunteer pen-pal program. These programs are all aimed at providing guidance and encouragement to our scholarship students, and to empower them to overcome any challenges in their educations or in lives which might lead to them dropping out of full-time education. Members of the Yuvabadhana team will also regularly visit teachers who look after our scholarship students, as well as the scholarship students themselves. We also provide support to our scholarship students through the following channels:
Scholarship Hotline
Students are welcome to telephone the foundation to seek guidance or counselling either from one of our youth development specialists or from a volunteer mentor.
Pen-Pal Program
Students can also communicate with us through social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram or Line.
Visits
We regularly visit our scholarship students to check how they are getting along. In 2019, we visited more than 1,631 students.
The Yuvabadhana Magazine
Every three months we send a copy of the Yuvabadhana Magazine to every scholarship student. This magazine is aimed at empowering our scholarship students with knowledge and encouragement so that they are enabled to develop themselves in various domains.
“I always read the magazine that my friends at the Yuvabadhana Foundation send me and it has really helpful articles that help me to think and learn. I promise to keep it safe and never lose it”
Suppinya, scholarship student from Nakhorn Rachasima
“I get a lot of encouragement from the Yuvabadhana Magazine because it has stories about people who have overcome challenges and poverty and have made great accomplishments. I also really like the stories from other scholarship students – how they’re overcoming challenges in their lives and how they stay motivated to learn.”
Guseema, scholarship student from Surin
“Reading the Yuvabadhana is my favorite thing to do! I really like the cartoon columns which really make me think of lots of different things. I want to thank all my friends at Yuvabadhana for the opportunities they’ve given me.”
Aphiyan, scholarship student from Narathiwat
Organizational and Individual Supporters
We would love to collaborate with you to expand the impact we’re having on children! The ways we can collaborate with you include:
- Organizing an education fund for underprivileged children in the area your organization is based;
- Organizing special activities to raise money with employees within your organization. We could help you to organize these activities on special occasions such as Children’s Day, the first day of the school term, New Year’s and other occasions when your organization would like to partner with us to give opportunities to underpriveledged children;
- Sponsor the publishing of the Yuvabadhana Magazine in providing guidance, counselling and encouragement to our scholarship students.