BASF and customers build sixth school in remote area of Vietnam

BASF and customers build the sixth school in remote areas of Vietnam

As part of the project co-sponsored by BASF and six customers along with other partners, two new classrooms and a playground with a total area of 328 square meters will be built. Facilitated by Saigon Children’s Charity CIO, the construction project will be completed in 2022.

The new facilities will benefit about 105 students in the 2021-2022 academic year and almost 150 school children from 2022 onwards, offering them an improved learning environment.

Before the renovation, the school children attended their classes in old facilities built in the 1990s, with basic structures and materials which did not offer a comfortable environment especially during high temperatures and rainy weather. The new facilities will provide the children with a safer and more comfortable place to learn and develop various skills.

“BASF supports the local community through a variety of programmes with a focus on providing quality education. Despite 2021 being another challenging year, we are proud to support this project together with our valuable partners, to help school children from remote communities have a safe and high-quality learning environment. With this school, we want to help nurture Vietnam’s next generation and demonstrate our commitment to supporting Vietnam’s sustainable development,” said Erick Contreras, managing director of BASF Vietnam.

For the sixth consecutive year, Nippon Paint Vietnam, a well-known paints and coatings manufacturer, has sponsored low-odour products meeting Green Label Certification, made with BASF ingredients that reduce impact on the environment and human health.

The financial co-sponsors include Brenntag Vietnam, the global market leader in chemical and ingredients distribution; MKVN Chemicals, a company distributing personal care and home care chemicals, and other functional products; as well as Phuc Hung, a distributor for crop protection products in An Giang province. Other co-sponsors are Sam Chem Sphere and Viet Duc Lubricants & Chemicals.

The new facilities will benefit about 105 students for the 2021-2022 academic year and almost 150 school children from 2022 onwards

Nhon Hung is one of the communes sharing a border with Cambodia in the mountainous Tinh Bien district, An Giang province. Over 25 per cent of the district’s residents are of the Khmer ethnicity, 11.5 per cent of whom are from poor households. School dropouts by Khmer students has been one of the biggest challenges for the local community.

Apart from the collaborative playground donation initiative, BASF Vietnam has been active in multiple community projects. For instance, it has partnered with Saigon Children’s Charity to provide scholarships to disadvantaged university students for four years of studies.

It holds the interactive education programme BASF Kids’ Lab on an annual basis for primary school students and offers BASF Virtual Lab, a website for primary students to do fun online chemistry experiments from the comfort of their homes or schools. The company has also built five public playgrounds for over 12,000 children.