“Baccalaureate Goal” for Our Young People in the Vietnamese Highlands
Funds raised so far: 4%
The “Baccalaureate Goal!” project aims to support high school students from ethnic minorities in the provinces of Kontum and Gia Lai, so they can complete their secondary schooling and earn a first qualification — opening the door to higher education or to work.
What is the situation, and why is support needed?
In many rural and mountainous areas of Vietnam, particularly in the Central Highlands and the provinces of Gia Lai and Kontum, access to high school remains a real challenge. And yet it is at this key stage that everything is decided.
Unlike primary school, high school is not compulsory. Many young people, especially those from ethnic minorities, drop out of education at this point. The reasons are many: the distance to the nearest school, the cost of studying (uniforms, supplies, transport), economic and family pressure, and the lack of educational grounding among parents who themselves had little or no schooling.
Vietnam is home to 54 ethnic groups, 53 of them minorities. These communities live mainly from subsistence farming and livestock. They have their own culture and language, but still suffer from deep social and educational isolation. Many adults cannot read, and their children struggle to access a school system poorly suited to their reality.
The obstacles to continuing their studies are very concrete. In these mountainous regions, high schools are often located in the valleys or in urban centres, sometimes dozens of kilometres from the villages. The roads are difficult and transport is limited. Families’ economic hardship is also a major barrier: households often have more than five children, sometimes as many as eleven or twelve, and few have enough land to meet their needs. Parents piece together casual day labour, often around coffee-growing, and early illness or death is common because of limited access to healthcare.
In this context, boys are often encouraged from a very young age to work and contribute to the family income, which increases the pressure to leave school.
What is the proposed solution?
To stop these young people from abandoning school just steps away from their baccalaureate, Children of the Mekong has chosen to support them at the moment their schooling is most at risk. We welcome these high school students into homes near their schools, where they benefit from:
- a stable, secure living environment
- a setting suited to study
- tutoring and daily educational support
- activities that foster their human and personal development
By covering their accommodation and school costs, we ease the financial pressure on families and allow these young people to concentrate on their studies and see them through to the baccalaureate.
This support costs around €60 per month per young person. It covers the essential costs of daily life (food, accommodation, hygiene), the school fees paid directly to the institutions, and a range of educational activities in keeping with Children of the Mekong’s educational vision.
What makes this project so effective?
- Targeted action at the most decisive moment: the project steps in at high school, where the risk of dropping out is greatest. These young people are often only a few years from their baccalaureate, so a small amount of support at this key moment has a lasting impact.
- Young people are welcomed into homes that offer safety, stability, and daily support — conditions essential to success at school.
- Holistic support, not just academic.
- The project relies on dedicated local coordinators who know the area and the families intimately, and who are present alongside the young people every day.
Who will benefit from this project?
The beneficiaries of this project are high school students, all from ethnic minorities. They are young people like Hung, 16, in Year 10. His mother is in hospital, his grandmother is in a coma, and his father has left the family. He lives with his grandfather, his two little sisters, and an aunt with a learning disability, in a small house an hour from Pleiku. His grandfather, a farmer, is the family’s only breadwinner. Despite everything, Hung is pursuing his schooling with dedication.
Or Bang, 15, who has just started high school. He comes from a village 22 km from Pleiku. His parents own a small tea and coffee plantation. He misses his family when he is at the boarding house — yet he says firmly that he wants to stay there through to his final year. He dreams of continuing his studies so that he can one day repair motorbikes.
