The Beginning
The year was 2010 when Dato’ Yeow Wah Chin was the District Governor of Lion District 308 B1 Malaysia that he mooted the idea to launch an education fund to help financially poor students to complete their tertiary education. Coming from a poor family himself, Dato’ Yeow knows very well the challenges facing these students and the only way to move out of the vicious cycle of poverty is through a tertiary education. With a vision to set up an education foundation to help the poor students in the institutions of higher learning, the Lions of the District responded enthusiastically and within a short span of six months a sum of more than RM1.0 million was raised. A charity foundation was later registered under the Companies Act of 1965 with a Board of Trustees to administer the fund. Tax exempt status was also granted by the Government for this foundation known as Lions Education Foundation.
The Present
Since its incorporation the Foundation had extended financial assistance to 91 students and the fund set aside is RM1.4m. A special feature of the Foundation is that financial assistance is granted to academically average students who are from poor family. Generally a sum of up to RM10,000 a year is given to deserving cases to cover tuition fee, examination fee or living expenses. Currently the students are pursuing their studies in various institutions of higher learning in Malaysia. Among the courses pursued by the recipients of the Foundation are as follows:- Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of Business Administration, Diploma in Banking and Finance, Diploma in Creative arts and Design, Diploma in Economy and Management, ACCA, Bachelor of Culinary Arts & Food Management, Diploma in Multimedia Technology, Diploma in Hotel Management, Dietetic just to name a few.
The Future
There is a need for a bigger pool of financial resources so that we can reach out to more deserving students. We have visited some institutions of higher learning and these institutions are helping us to identify qualified students for this financial assistance. We are ready to do more if adequate resources are available. With our management expertise and the volunteering culture of the Lions organization we are confident of reaching out to help more needy students. Our goal is to increase the number of recipients to at least 150.
ID Dato’ Yeow Wah Chin DSTM DIMP
Chairman
Lions Education Foundation