Laos Scholarship

Your yearly donation of 10,000 yen will help a Laotian child to go to elementary school

In Laos, one of the world's poorest coutnries, children have difficulty completing their 5-year elementary school education. On the national average, only 40% of Laotian children can complete elementary school. That rate decreases to 10 to 20% in the two provinces where the Darunee Scholarship is administered. The main reasons why children in Laos drop out of school are poverty, helping with family farming, working to help support the family, marriage, and taking care of sisters and brouthers. In accordance with our policy to provide educational support when and where it is most needed, the Darunee Scholarship in Laos supports elementary school students for three years, from third grade to fifth grade.

The Darunee Scholarship

Your 10,000 yen donation is converted to a 1,500 Thai Baht scholarship for one student in Laos. Thai Baht is used instead of the Laos Kip because of changing exchange rates. 90% of the scholarship is used for supporting children to continue their education, while the rest is used for school materials and class operations. Any extra funds resulting from exchange rate fluctuations are used for teacher training programs.

Reach to poorer children

We have set up a system that selects the poorest children to receive scholarships. Our system also provides scholarship fund delivery to the students, while ensuring that the money is used only for educational purposes. We work with regional communities and villagers, who select the poorest of the scholarship applicants to receive support. The Minsai Center Laos office checks the selection process to ensure it is being conducted properly.

Timeframe

Scholarship Donations

In Laos, students attend primary school for five years, but many children living in poverty drop out of school to help care for family or to help with farming. As such, the Darunee Scholarship Program for Lao students allows donors to contribute up to \30,000 per student at one time, to completely cover a student’s 3rd to 5th grade of a primary school education. Other options are also available:

Type A: One-time donation of \30,000, to provide a three-year scholarship for one child
Type B: Annual donation of \10,000 for 3 years to provide a scholarship for one child.
Type C: One-time donation of \10,000 to support one child for one year. Please note that if you choose this option, and later decide to extend your support, the Minsai Center cannot guarantee that you will be able to continue to fund the education of the same student.

Non-Scholarship Donations

The Minsai Center accepts donations for other uses. There are four types of non-scholarship donations available:

Type D: Donations for various projects in Thailand (excluding the Darunee Scholarship)
Type E: Donations for the general administration of the Minsai Center Japan office. The Minsai Center asks that when providing a scholarship donation, you also consider donating an extra 10% to help with administration costs. This donation is not mandatory, and 10% is suggested only as a guide.
Type F: Donations to support various scholarship fundraising-activities by volunteer groups in Japan
Type G: Donations for various projects in Laos (excluding the Darunee Scholarship)

How to Donate

There are two ways to donate to the Minsai Center:
(1) Via postal transfer To send financial donations directly to the Minsai Center via postal transfer, obtain the appropriate postal transfer form from the post office. Fill it in as follows:

• Account number: 00150-0-57664
• Account holder’s name: Minsai Center Japan
• Name and address of sender: Your name, sex, mailing address, and phone number. If making a donation on behalf of a group, please include the name and department name/position title of one person who can act as a contact person. As well, the listed donor’s name must be no longer than 32 characters, including spaces and punctuation
• Funds to be used for: “Laos Scholarship” Please be sure to write clearly.
• Donation type: Indicate the scholarship donation type (A, B, or C), as well as the number of scholarships provided. For non-scholarship donations, indicate the donation type (D, E, F, or G) as well as the amount being donated.
• As well, please indicate how you learned about the Minsai Center and the Darunee Scholarship (for example, From the Internet).
• Please keep your receipt after sending the transfer.
• Please note that you are also responsible for paying the small fee charged by the post office for the transfer.

(2) Via Miswritten postcards 250 miswritten official postcards are worth a one-year scholarship for one child. You can send such postcards, regardless of quantity, to the Minsai Center. Please contact us for more information.