Asian Agri improves the quality of education for communities residing in the vicinity of the company’s operational areas as well as the company’s own employees, through the provision of scholarships as well as by improving or building educational facilities.
Asian Agri does this with the aim of creating a better educated generation for the future, improving the overall quality of human resources and community welfare across Indonesia, and to support community development.
Working in partnership with Tanoto Foundation, Asian Agri regularly helps to renovate existing schools and provides new facilities such as libraries for village schools, school buses and toilets across Indonesia.
Yayasan Sayap Garuda Program
One of the ways in which Asian Agri contributes to education is through its Yayasan Sayap Garuda (Wings of Garuda) Program, which provides scholarships to high-achieving students who are the children of existing Asian Agri employees.
Students from elementary school up to the university level are selected for the scholarships, based primarily on their academic achievements as well as their parents’ work performance.
In 2017, Asian Agri disbursed a total of 72 scholarships (20 to elementary students, 47 to high school students, and five to university students).
PELITA Program
Asian Agri’s contribution to education does not stop at the student level, as it also aids Indonesian teachers in improving their skills and knowledge levels under its PELITA Program.
The program awards up to 40 teachers with scholarships to boost their educational qualifications annually. It has typically seen about 20 to 26 teachers receiving scholarships every year since the PELITA program began in 2012.
148 teachers have received the scholarship thus far.
Program Sekolah Sawit Lestari
Asian Agri is also committed to ensuring an environmentally friendly and sustainable future for palm oil plantations in Indonesia via its Sekolah Sawit Lestari Program.
Under the program, Asian Agri teaches students of various school levels about sustainable palm oil plantation practices, with the notion that the knowledge will be passed on to the students’ parents and communities.
Besides providing the schools with live oil palms in the schools’ compounds (to facilitate on-site learning and provide income for the school), Asian Agri also holds field visits, interactive discussions, and periodic monitoring of the palm trees planted by the school communities, with the belief that direct assistance and field study will help students understand the best pam oil management practices.
