Founded in 1994 and sponsored by Saigon Children's Charity, Thang Long Vocational School provides free classes in English and vocational skills to the children of District 4 in Saigon. A member of the Thang Long staff interviews the parents of prospective students, aged eleven to thirteen, in their home. The family must pass a means test before the student is accepted into the school. Children from the poorest families are accepted.
He is Truong Minh Phuong. He is kind and quiet. His parents are separated. He lives with his mother and younger brother in a small house of 21m2 in D 4. His mother does manicure for customers in their neighborhood earning 50-100 thousand dong per day to bring up two children.
LEARNING ENGLISH IN THANG LONG SCHOOL - Mar 23 2012
My name is Nguyen Lan ly. I am seventeen years old. My father died of serious disease when I was very young. My mother is working as a cleaner for a small decoration company. She is paid approximately two million dong per month. I am the youngest of the three daughters in my family. My eldest sister is married and she lives as a farmer in the country. My second elder sister is Truc Ly. She is an ex-student of Thang Long school(TLS). Now she is working in HSBC in district one. We don't have a house. We live in a small room of the company where my mother works.
DOAN LE THANH PHONG, A SUCCESSFUL STUDENT EXAMPLE - Oct 13 2011
Doan Le Thanh Phong is a similar case of the disadvantage circumstances.
His family faces a lot of difficulties in the daily life. All of the members in his family live in a room of 9 square meters for rent. They have to pay 400.000 VND for it every month. His father is a builder. He works around the clock but earns a little money. His mother is an embroiderer. Their life is tiring under a lot of work so they don't have much time to watch over their son. That's why he dropped out of his school although he was very keen on study.
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