Individuals, organisations and enterprises contributed over VND700 billion (USD33.5 million) to encourage increased studying in 2012.
Prof. and Dr. Pham Tat Dong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Study Encouragement Association, announced the figures at a meeting to review the operations of the agency last years and work out its task for 2013.
He said that most of the funding had been used to grant scholarships, awards and commendations to those who had recorded impressive academic achievements or made significant contributions to educational development.
According to Dong, the number of the association’s numbers increased to nearly one million people in 2012. The number of families that had members with outstanding study results reached over five million last year, up 30.62% against 2011.
The Study Encouragement Fund had a balance of nearly VND400 billion (USD19.1 million) by the end of last year after disbursing funds on scholarships and awards for outstanding students and teachers nationwide.
By the end of last year, the fund had helped build 10,817 public study centres across the country.
The association has branches in 25 cities and provinces nationwide.
Concerning the tasks for this year, Nguyen Manh Cam, Chairman of the Vietnam Study Encouragement Association said, “It’s necessary to conduct comprehensive education reforms. More efforts should be made to enhance the quality and expand the development of public study centres with due attention being paid to vocational training for people."