Palm oil producer Astra Agro Group, through its subsidiary PT Perkebunan Lembah Bhakti (PLB), declared its commitment to continue supporting the education of school-age children in Aceh, especially in the company’s operational plantation areas.
Community Development Area Manager Aceh Riduan Manik has announced the company’s dedication to providing education on the plantation for all children of employees and non-employees. The support covers the establishment and support for schools, ranging from kindergarten to high school level, run by the Dharma Bhakti Astra Foundation or assisted by the company.
“The company also provides educational scholarship assistance to community children in assisted schools and children of company employees to support the improvement of academic and non-academic achievements,” said Riduan in a statement on Tuesday.
Through corporate social responsibility (CSR), aligned with the Sustainability Aspiration roadmap Public Contribution value, specifically in the education pillar, CSR, PT PLB also contributes to the Assisted Schools Quality Improvement Program (P2M), facilities and infrastructure assistance, and teacher competency development.
Riduan, the emergence of several outstanding students from SMAN 1 Gunung Meriah in Aceh Singkil Regency, a PLB-assisted school, can be attributed to the company’s effort to improve the quality of the school’s education.
The outstanding student, Muhammad Airil, won the Champion and was named the 2024 Aceh Singkil District Environmental Ambassador by the local Environmental Agency.
Airil revealed that one of the things that made him win the Environmental Ambassador competition was being asked what he knew about the environment during the interview test.
“I explained about the conservation land where my father works, namely PLB,” he said.
In addition to Airil, another outstanding student from the same school is Dimas Bagus Saputra, who won first place in a district and provincial English debate competition.
The principal of SMAN 1 Gunung Meriah Maya Kartika said that almost 40 percent of the school’s students are the children of PT PLB employees, the majority of whom are talented children.
“Alhamdulillah, the students in this school have many achievements, despite the many kinds of achievements produced, such as Airil for non-academic competitions and Dimas in academic achievements,” she said.
Maya also expressed her commitment to the company, through establishing a good relationship as one of the foster schools in the education-focused CSR program
