Learn To Earn
SCG Foundation
Project Commitment to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
INTRODUCTION
Currently, there are 4.3 million underprivileged children and youths in Thailand who lack access to better education opportunities. Education is a crucial foundation for human development, and thus the SCG Foundation has been providing educational scholarships for well-behaved and ambitious children and youths for over 60 years. These scholarships are available from primary to undergraduate levels with a total of 3,000 scholarships worth over THB60 million. The foundation believes that supporting education is a fair and direct way to empower young people to reach their full potential , achieve success and become critical forces for national development in the future.Thailand is now facing crisis upon crisis, due to the epidemic, environmental problems, and wars that have resulted in economic impacts and increasing social inequality, especially in the education field. To survive, individuals must possess essential skills for living and working to generate a sufficient income to support themselves and their families. Thus, SCG Foundation has brought up the concept of “Learn to Earn”, scholarships for disciplines in high demand in the labor market and society that enable the recipients to quickly finish the program and begin their professional careers. Throughout the period of being a grantee of SCG Foundation, they will be continuously equipped with hard and soft skills to help the grantee properly cope with crises, problems, and critical situations as they learn to counter future obstacles in the areas of public health and information technology. At present, SCG Foundation offers “Learn to Earn” scholarships totaling 1,300 scholarships worth more than THB32 million.
FRAMEWORK AND STRATEGY
The 4 core values of SCG Foundation are to believe in the value of people, uphold social responsibility in line with the ESG 4 PLUS strategy “Reduce Inequality – Embrace Collaboration”, fairness and transparency, and that a healthy society is composed of talented and ethical individuals. Its objective is to develop the potential of individuals, with a particular emphasis on today’s youth who will be the driving force of the country’s future, while also fostering socially responsible behavior to encourage constructive development for society and promote sustainability for the country.In the past, SCG Foundation collaborated with numerous organizations, especially in the educational field. For example, the foundation partnered with the Praboromarajchanok Institute in 30 branches across the country to produce healthcare professionals such as Practical Nurses (PN) and dental assistants, providing comprehensive training that includes both theoretical and practical components. Additionally, the foundation worked with Siam Kubota Corporation Co., Ltd. and Kaset Inno Co., Ltd. to establish a bilateral training program aimed at enhancing the skills of vocational students in modern farming and producing farm managers to meet the labor market demand at Buriram Technical College.
ACHIEVEMENT AND IMPACT
SCG Foundation has planned to implement a yearly student scholarship tracking system to monitor the employment rates of its scholarship recipients. This will allow for analysis of the data and adjustment of the educational support direction to best meet the demands of the job market in Thailand.According to the survey conducted in 2021, it was found that 73% of scholarship students had secured employment, mostly in short-term roles such as Practical Nurses (PN) and Dental Assistants. This reinforces that the “Learn to Earn” scholarship has significantly helped to reduce the labor shortage in Thailand. The foundation also conducted a social return on investment (SROI) evaluation of its short-term healthcare scholarship program for Practical Nurses and found that the program had a social and economic impact of 3.96 times the investment. This means that for every THB1 invested, there was a return of THB3.96 in economic and social value, with a maximum social value of 41.2 percent.
FUTURE DIRECTION
As a defining factor in human development, SCG Foundation pays attention to and recognizes problems in the education sector. These problems require time, resources, and collaborative efforts to address. The foundation is committed to continually driving the “Learn to Earn” concept forward and making it a national agenda, with inspiration from various projects supporting this concept, as well as through network collaborations with the government, private sector, civil society, and the media. The foundation believes that sustainable education development cannot be achieved by individuals alone, but rather requires the collective efforts of multiple sectors to stimulate social awareness and create a sustainable impact.
SCG Foundation is a public charity organization that was established
in 1963. Its core Missions are to enhance the potential of individuals,
especially children, and youth, and uphold corporate social
responsibilities through various approaches.
It develops strategies and programs to fit the social circumstances and needs as a reflection of SCG Foundation’s philosophies of “Concern for Social Responsibility and “Belief in the Value of the Individual”.
It develops strategies and programs to fit the social circumstances and needs as a reflection of SCG Foundation’s philosophies of “Concern for Social Responsibility and “Belief in the Value of the Individual”.
