Quang Nam, Vietnam; 18 August, 2017: Canon Marketing Vietnam today opened the doors on the Le Phong Primary School, in Quang Nam’s Tam Hiep Village in a project co-developed by the company and the Dai Loc Education Department.

The school, which will educate 20 ethnic-minority and disabled children aged between 5 and 8 will employ one teacher, who will focus on general education including literacy, fluency in the Vietnamese (Kinh) language, and mathematics.

Canon Marketing Vietnam Chief Executive Officer Yokota Hiroshi said of the donation: “Canon’s activities are all underpinned by a global commitment to “kyosei” – a Japanese word that translates to living and working for the common good.  It’s hard to see Vietnam’s advancement leave behind some of its most precious future resources – its children – so we stepped in here to build the first classroom for the kids of this village.”

“It’s an honor then to see the kids walk in for their first classes, and we wish them all the best for their education ahead.  Who knows, maybe one day some of them will come work for Canon.  We hope so!”

Led by teacher Truong Phuoc, the investment of just under 500 million VND sees the construction of the first classroom in the village, which is located in the Dai Son Commune, Dai Loc District, in central Vietnam’s Quang Nam province.

Truong Phuoc said of the donation: “Most of these children come from very poor families, we are a village that relies heavily on vegetable and pig farming for the economy, and that offers very limited prospects for the kids of the village in the years ahead.  Education is key to break this cycle and, for these 20 children, and for the kids that follow in the years to come, the gift Canon has presented us with today is priceless.”

Dai Loc Education Department representative Huynh Ngoc Anh said of the cooperation with Canon: “We truly appreciate Canon’s incredible effort in developing the future owners of our country. We are always willing to support meaningful projects like this and hope that will see many more companies offer this kind of support like Canon has in future”.

Following the ceremony, representatives of Canon Marketing Vietnam and Le Phong primary school visited two students who find themselves in times of particular need at present.  Second grader Nguyen Dung was orphaned at age 7 and now lives with his grandfather who is currently unable to work.  Meanwhile, third grader Bui Thanh Thuy suffers from severe hemophilia which has been unresponsive to treatment in the past.  The company and school’s representatives visited with the students, offering them further support and encouragement for the challenges before them.

This follows an extensive commitment to the community of Vietnam by the leading imaging company. Since 2009, this project has been supporting as many as 55 friendship schools around Vietnam such as Dien Quan Primary school in Lao Cai, Na Lieng primary school in Yen Bai, Tran Hoi 2 Secondary school in Camau with more than 77 new classrooms and 12 toilets and hand washing areas built and 240 bicycles presented with the total of more than 4 billion VND.