Tanoto Foundation has awarded an aid of 300 sets of desks and chairs to several schools in Kecamatan Bilah Hilir, Kabupaten Labuhan Batu, North Sumatera in August 2017. This aid in school facilities was allocated to four partner schools, namely SDN 112188 Negeri Lama, SDN 112189 Negeri Lama, SDN 114373 Sei Tampang, and SDN 117483 Indra Kaya.

This allocation of desks and chairs to partner schools aims to support the comfort and safety of students while participating in the schools’ teaching learning and classroom activities, because damaged desks and chairs can interfere with the comfort and safety of students.

“We are thankful to the Tanoto Foundation for this aid of desks and chairs. The condition of the desks and chairs used by our students was very worrying and we were concerned that they could hurt the students. Now we feel easy because teaching learning activities can be carried out safely, “said Hamdan, Head of SDN 117483 Indra Kaya.

Students in these schools are also happy with the new desks and chairs in their classrooms. Radit, one of the first graders of SDN 112188 Negeri Lama, even made a thank-you poster to the Tanoto Foundation for the aid of new desks and chairs for their school.

Allocation of desks and chairs is part of the Tanoto Foundation’s Pelita ASRI (Safe, Healthy and Environmentally Friendly) Program which aims to create and maintain a safe, clean, and healthy learning environment in schools.

Written by Affan Surya, Tanoto Foundation of North Sumatra

Tanoto Foundation held its yearly event of Tanoto Scholars Gathering at Pangkalan Kerinci, Riau, 22 – 25 November 2017. The Gathering aims to provide recipients of Tanoto Foundation scholarships or Tanoto Scholars with various soft skills such as teamwork and leadership was attended by 250 participants from 21 universities.

The interesting experience gained by Tanoto Scholars in the 2017 Tanoto Scholars Gathering involved an industrial visit to the Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Group’s company. They were brought to visit several locations, among others: palm oil processing plant, oil palm plantation, paper-processing plant, acacia nurseries, and technology development center.

The Tanoto Scholars’ first visit was to an oil palm plantation managed by Asian Agri in the Buatan area, Kecamatan Pangkalan Kerinci, Kabupaten Pelalawan, Riau. The scholars obtained important lessons such as environmental-friendly and sustainable palm oil plantation management, which involves among others the use natural predators such as owls to eradicate rat pests.

Participants were then brought to visit PT Inti Indosawit Subur’s factory. In this palm oil processing plant, Tanoto Scholars were able to gain knowledge on palm oil processing from palm kernels into crude palm oil which is further processed into ready-made products. Tanoto Scholars were also able to gain knowledge on the distribution of palm oil products exported to several countries in the world.

During their visit to Kerinci Central Nursery owned by the APRIL group, Tanoto Scholars learned about industrial forest tree breeding using state-of-the-art technology. This nursery produces quality acacia tree seedlings that can grow optimally and be harvested in a short time.

From the nursery, the participants were brought to the paper processing factory and its packing process. The use of advanced technology in the factory was a new experience for the participants.

The Tanoto Scholars also had an opportunity to visit the APRIL group’s community development activities related to Rumah Batik Andalan and the implementation of Integrated Agricultural System program. Here, they learned about community empowerment programs that are supported by the company.

Jakarta, January 15, 2018 – Tanoto Foundation’s flagship scholarships of the National Champion Scholarship program for the year of 2018 has been opened. As in previous years, it is expected that applicants will overwhelm the Tanoto Foundation’s official website, considering the Tanoto Foundation scholarship registrations are only processed through the official website at staging2-tanotofoundation-org.averis.emerain.net. In 2017, the National Champion Scholarship program attracted more than 12,000 applicants.

The Tanoto Foundation’s National Champion Scholarship program, which has been going on since 2006, represents the materialization of a private philanthropic institution’s role in improving access to education. According to an annual report from the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia, the gross enrollment rate in 2016 has only reached 28.10 percent. This means that only less than a third of college-age youths are able to study in colleges/universities.

The scholarship program also aims to develop Indonesia’s future leaders. The Tanoto Foundation scholarship recipients, or called Tanoto Scholars, in addition to supports in tuition fees and pocket money, also receive various soft skill trainings, such as public speaking, writing, presentation, as well as leadership and teamwork.

“Taking part in developing Indonesia’s future leaders is a mandate from the founders of Tanoto Foundation, Mr. Sukanto Tanoto and Mrs. Tinah Bingei Tanoto. To implement this message from the founders, Tanoto Foundation provides support through various scholarship programs, one of which is the National Champion Scholarship, “said Sihol Aritonang, Chairman of the Tanoto Foundation Management.

“Through this flagship scholarship program, Tanoto Foundation would like to pass on Mr. Sukanto Tanoto’s leadership values to the scholarship recipients. First, lifelong learning. Second, leading begins with self, then leading others. Third is care for the community,” continued Sihol Aritonang.

Registration of the National Champion Scholarship program is open until the end of February 2018. To be accepted as Tanoto Scholars, applicants must pass through three stages of selection, the first concerns administrative document verification, the second concerns psychological tests, and the last concerns interview tests. The results of each stage will be announced officially on the Tanoto Foundation website. To date, more than 2,900 undergraduate (S1) and graduate (S2) students have been awarded scholarship support of the National Champion Scholarship program spread across 12 partner universities.