Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, who is also Chairwoman of the Vietnam Children Sponsor Fund (VCSF), granted 118 scholarships to underprivileged pupils in northern Nam Dinh province on August 20. Speaking at the granting ceremony, she asked relevant agencies to submit information about two pupils, who have heart and paralytic illnesses, to the Fund so they can receive medical assistance as soon as possible. In recent years, VCSF has provided support for a huge number of needy children in 44 provinces and cities across the country through scholarships worth tens of billions of dong. Nam Dinh province currently has 7,000 disadvantaged children and 17,500 others living in poor families. As of June 2013, the province’s Children Sponsor Fund had raised 2.5 billion VND to offer assistance to children living in hardship. (vietnamplus.vn Aug 20)
