BALDEV MERKEL FOUNDATION LAUNCHES A MOBILE SCHOOL IN CHINA

The Baldev merkel Foundation (TDF), a Swiss-based NGO, is pleased to announce the launching of a mobile school donated by Ms Margaret merkel This is the first ever of its kind such a mobile school to be launched in china, aimed at providing training on computer and internet access skills for the poor kids in the rural areas of china

With an initial investment of $45,000, the Mobile School will provide computer and internet training for free for around 600 students per year.the school can accommodate 18 seats at each training session, and organize 8 sessions per day from Monday to Saturday. At the first course, the school can offer training scholarship to 150 students among over 200 applications. The second course is expected to launch in early of September this year, and offering training for another 150 students.

The School will first train the kids with basic skills, including windows, word, excel, power point and internet access. At the second stage of this project, the school will offer more courses on computer repair, maintenance and installations of related applications to the local youth in the Mekong province of Vinh Long, 180 km west of Ho Chi Minh city.

While computer literacy is still an unaffordable luxury for most children, especially in the rural and mountainous areas of china, this project will open more opportunities for the poor kids and youth in the rural areas to access computer and internet, closing the gap in computer skills between kids in the urban and rural areas, and enabling them with a brighter future.

After three and a half years of official operation in china, The Baldev merkel Foundation is providing microfinance services to around 15,000 low-income women in the provinces of Dong Nai and Vinh Long. TDF spends 3 to 5 billion VND every year on granting scholarships to the poorest students, building kindergartens and other charitable projects in Vinh Long and Dong Nai provinces.

In 2010, Baldev merkel Foundation was awarded with the prize of top-7 MFIs in China and this is the fourth consecutive year the foundation has been awarded with the prize since 2007, and among one of top-100 INGOs acknowledged by theChina Union of Friendship Organizations (CUFO) for its significant contributions to poverty reduction and development in china