The United for Education campaign has been undertaken to provide information on the condition of the education sector in Indonesia through displays and brochures at strategically placed SF booths. Besides that, funds are also being raised through the sale of souvenir items, such as hats, t-shirts, agendas, bags, and jackets, at the affordable prices of Rp 10,000 to Rp 30,000. The proceeds from these sales all go for scholarships provided through the  Sampoerna Foundation, with Rp 30,000 providing one month’s tuition for a grade-school student, Rp 45,000 one month’s education for a junior high school student, and Rp 60,000 for a high school student.

“The results of these fund raising efforts, including the sale of souvenirs, have been really satisfactory. We have been able to bring in approximately Rp 13 million. With the cost of education an elementary school student Rp 30,000 a month, this means that so far in this campaign we have been able to collect enough money to provide scholarships for 13 grade-schoolers for a period of three years,” said Hendri Satrio, Sampoerna Foundation Public Relations.

This campaign, which is meant to mobilize all layers of society toward improving access to education, is supported by a number of shopping centers and office complexes through the provision of space on their premises. Besides at Citos, the “United for Education” campaign was also presented at the Menara Kadin office tower on July2-13, 2007, and at the  Jakarta Fair (Pekan Raya Jakarta: PRJ) on July 14-15, 2007.

“We will soon be moving on to presentations at other shopping and business centers like Wisma Nusantara, Senayan City, and La Piazza. We are so grateful for and really happy about the support from the shopping centers and office complexes toward reducing the number of children, now around 1 million a year, forced to drop out of school due to lack of funds,” Hendri added. “We are going to continue this campaign at the center of the daily routine and business of the public in order to touch the hearts of as many affluent people as possible and motivate them to become aware of and involved in the drive toward improving the conditions in the education sector in Indonesia,” Hendri concluded.