The scholarship presentations in the first semester of the 2021 academic year will be slightly different from the previous academic year due to the vast outbreak of COVID-19 in Thailand, including Nakhon Sawan and the lower Northern regional provinces. The number of new cases detected has been more than ten thousand every day since July 17th. Schools, colleges, and universities were directed to stop teaching onsite and let all students study online to keep everyone safe from the risk of infection. At the same time, the vaccination process in Thailand is extremely slow.
SET is aware of all the risks and the need of underprivileged students. Our centres started the application process for new scholarships in July. Interviewing and home visiting are still needed, but we have to do it via video conference or video live. All functions will take the whole first semester, and the selected students will start receiving their first scholarship in the second semester.
The current scholarship students are still receiving the scholarship in the first semester as scheduled. Scholarship funds will transfer through student’s bank accounts even though we have no idea when the COVID-19 situation will improve and let us meet them again.
To study online, students need to pay some expenses, internet packages, electricity costs, and even mobile phone upgrades to meet the internet connection requirement. Many parents were laid-off and had no guaranteed income to support their children. These are just a few examples of the big challenge that Thai students are encountering, and SET scholarship will help them move on to their further study.
Pictured: Nakhon Sawan Rajabhat University scholarship presentation ceremony in 2020.
