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CASE STUDY
Students’ Education Trust - SET for Society
For several years, the BCTFN has supported social
projects undertaken by the Students’ Education Trust. SET is
a non-profit-making charity with the primary aim of awarding
scholarships and welfare grants to disadvantaged Thai
students. Nearly 700 students are currently receiving
support. The scholarships are gifts, not loans, but students
are encouraged to voluntarily undertake social projects to
return something to their own society, as a way of saying
‘thanks’ for the help they receive from SET. Students at
high schools and vocational colleges run projects to help
orphans, mentally handicapped children, old people and those
with Aids, while older students at university renovate and
improve rural primary schools by building libraries or
children’s lunch canteens.
The ‘SET for Society’ program is
sponsored entirely by the BCTFN.
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Giving something back
(from the SET for Society webpage) |
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SET scholarships are gifts, not loans, and do not
have to be repaid. However, our scholarship students
are encouraged to return something to other
disadvantaged people in their own society, as a way
of saying ‘thanks’ for the support they receive. The
SET for Society Program not only benefits many other
people, it also encourages a sense of social
responsibility in our students. They are also less
inclined to think of their scholarships simply as
‘free money’. |
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The program is remarkably successful. After being
introduced at Rajabhat University in Nakhon Sawan in
2002, interest quickly spread to other schools and
colleges from which our students are drawn. Now,
more than 250 students from Rajabhat, two colleges
and two high schools are involved in the various
projects each year. Students take part voluntarily
but most are very enthusiastic to do so. |
“My ride on an elephant was the
most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me”,
said a 10-year-old orphan after a SET for Society
visit to an elephant training camp. “I’ve never left
the orphanage before and I was happy for every
moment of the camp, except when we had to leave.
Then I cried”. |
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The Rajabhat program has now developed on a very
ambitious scale but students from other schools and
colleges make annual one-day visits to an orphanage,
an old people’s home, a school for handicapped
children and an Aids hospice. After an explanation
from the institute director about the residents’
problems and special needs, the students chat with
the residents, help them in any practical way they
can, serve a special lunch and give each a small
gift. Residents and students alike all seem to
greatly benefit from the visits. Some students now
make their own independent visits, especially to the
orphanage. |
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One project combines the SET for Society Program, the
Scholarship Program and the Volunteer Teacher
program. Our older scholarship students at Nakhon
Sawan High School accompany and take care of twenty
children from a local orphanage on an annual two-day
visit to an elephant training camp in the north of
Thailand. The project is organized by SET’s two
volunteer teachers at the school. The trip is very
exciting for the children since most have never left
the orphanage before, nor seen an elephant.
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A SET vocational college student helps an elderly
resident of an old people’s home during a SET for
Society visit. |
A new friend: a SET high school student helps
care for a young resident of a local orphanage. Some
students also visit the orphanage in their own time. |
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The Rajabhat Program
Our
students at Rajabhat University are particularly
enthusiastic about the SET for Society Program and
their projects become more ambitious every year. The
students organize every aspect of the projects
themselves, including budgeting. That greatly
increases their sense of personal responsibility to
the project.
The
projects are held during the long summer break and
usually last seven or eight continuous days and
nights. Early in the year, a team of students
assesses remote, rural primary schools and selects
one for the project. The school must be in need of
improvement and the project must be of direct
benefit to the school children. In keeping with the
Rajabhat tradition, the project must also be very
labor-intensive. Hundreds volunteer to take part but
the work-team is restricted to the fifty students
who can offer the best practical or other skills.
In
2003, the students worked for more than 10,000
man-hours to build a library at a very remote
primary school. They also built a large chicken coop
in the school grounds so the children could have
fresh eggs at lunchtime, they repaired and repainted
equipment in the play area, cut back trees,
landscaped the school grounds and cleared several
tons of rubbish. |
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In 2004, the students were even more ambitious.
Their project was held at a tiny primary school
named Wichawadee, run as a charity for children from
a very poor local community. The team removed a
large flight of dangerous wooden steps and built a
new concrete flight.
They
also completely remodeled the children’s lunch
canteen and created two new classrooms. After the
project, the team leader said: “I think we’re
developing a good understanding of what SET expects
from us. These projects are not about how much money
we spend. It would be easy to help a little school
like Wichawadee by simply donating equipment, like
books, computers and so on, but that’s not the
point. The point of the projects is about we
students putting in real effort as a team – not just
physically but with our hearts too. That’s what we
did at Wichawadee and I think we can feel proud of
the result.” |
"Thank you for giving us the opportunity to show
that we also care about other people in our society"
2004 Project Team Leader
The 2004 project team on the new concrete access
steps they built at Wichawadee School. |
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In 2005, the students undertook their most ambitious
project - building a combined assembly hall, canteen
and cookhouse at a small primary school named Wat
Dong Muang. After the project, the team leader said
“This has been our most difficult project so far.
We’ve created quite a substantial building from
scratch and I think we’ve done it as well as any
professional builder could, but at a fraction of the
cost. After three years’ experience of such
projects, I think we’ve proved we’re not a bunch of
kids messing about with cement. We’re very serious
and professional about what we do because we know
how much the children benefit. The project was a
great opportunity for us to do something worthwhile
for other people in our society. That’s a good
feeling”. |
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The SET for Society Program is
sponsored entirely by donations from the BCTFN (The
British Community in Thailand Foundation for the
Needy). |
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