SCG SEEKS THIRD GROUP OF POOR STUDENTS

       The Siam Cement Group has begun a third year of its Home Mart Career Choice programme, aiming to provide training to 25-30 poor students who want to excel in knowledge of construction materials.
       SCG Distribution's president Kajohndet Sangsuban said the programme, run in cooperation with Samut Prakan Technical College, had already produced 63 students and some of them were now working for SCG.
       With an annual budget of Bt3 million, the programme targets mainly those who want to pursue careers in construction-material distribution centres, mainly Home Mart, which is an SCG business unit.
       Kajohndet said the programme was open to students from around the country. However, SCG's management selected candidates by interview only.
       "Our criteria involve the students'family incomes. That is our first priority in selecting students to receive the scholarship. Then we will look at their study profile. We want to give poor students the opportunity for education and a job," he said.
       The company pays all of the expenses for a two-year course for successful candidates, averaging Bt100,000 per person per year.
       Apinya Todmuang, 20, from Chiang Mai, said she decided to join the programme in 2007 because it met all of her expenses and was also a non-binding scholarship. Winning a scholarship helped her family by cutting her study costs. When she graduated, she was guaranteed a job with a good income of Bt7,000 per month. Apinya now works at a Home Mart distribution centre in Nakhon Pathom province.
       Another successful graduate, Winai Jaroenwong, 22, came from Nakhom Phanom province to win an SCG scholarship. He now works at Home Mart Bang Na, with a salary of about Bt8,000 per month.
       "I applied for this programme because I believed that when I graduated, I could find a job and help my family to have a better-quality life. This programme gave me an education and a job opportunity," he said.
       Under the programme, SCG and the college give the students the knowledge and the experience to join the staff of a construction-materials distribution centre. They spend six months at college lectures, followed by six months on-the-job training at a Home Mart store, for a total of two years'study.
       When they graduate, they can seek a job with Home Mart, but they are also free to do anything they want.
       "This is a non-binding scholarship," Kajohndet said. However, graduates get better opportunities than other students because they hold both a college certificate and an SCG certificate for having passed through the Home Mart Career Choice programme.
       Thirty-two students graduated from the programme's first year. Of these, 31 now work at Home Mart distribution centres.
       The second group, totalling 31 students, will graduate next year.
       Applications for the third group close next week. It is open for precollege students with a grade-6 or equivalent education. Examinations to select 25-30 successful candidates will be held on October 7 and 10 at examination centres in Roi Et province and Bangkok.
       Instead of studying at Samut Prakan Technical College, the third group will attend Theerabhada Technology Vocational College in Roi Et, which opens on October 20. The change follows realisation that most of the successful students are coming from the North and Northeast of the country.
       "We think this is a good way to pay society back [for our success], because if we create educational opportunities and jobs for poor people, they can create quality of living for both themselves and their family after they graduate," Kajohndet said.