Tops, food business under Central Retail, continues to collaborate with the United Nations’ Children’s Fund (UNICEF), gathering encouragement from Tops’ customers across the country in the form of donation of more than 6.9 million baht and presented to Anand Panyarachun UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and Kyungsun Kim UNICEF Thailand Representative in support of the “Every Child Can Read” project aimed at elevating Thai children’s reading and writing skills to the largest coverage possible. In the past 20 years, of Tops operation in Thailand, Tops has been reinforcing its commitment to work with UNICEF through a total donation of over 44 million baht.
Stephane Coum, Chief Executive Officer Food Group, Central Retail, said “The ‘Every Child Can Read’ project was born out of common aspiration to see more children in Thailand read, together with desire to create an environment for public participation to promote the development of children’s learning capabilities, because at present there are many children in Thailand who are still deprived of their righteous opportunity to have access to reading materials. According to the data from the National Statistical Office (NSO), only 52% of children in Prathom (grades) 2 and 3 have basic reading skills. It has also been found that a high proportion of children (7 out of 10) in the affluent group have at least three books to read at home, compared with only one in the impoverished group (1 out of 4). This reflects their access to reading materials and reiterates the fact that children are still in need of a lot more support in the form of quality books as well as activities that promote positive attitude towards reading, especially among children in remote areas.
Seeing the importance of this equality gap in children’s reading problems in Thailand,
Stephane also added that it is one of Tops’ business policies that are ready to drive society towards sustainability in all dimensions. Tops has entered its third year of cooperation in the “Every Child Can Read” project, a collaboration with UNICEF Thailand with an aim of effectively strengthening Thai youth’s reading and writing skills in every age group. Reading is the ignition point of creativity and an infinite source of knowledge. It can also create many benefits for basic living and future careers, as well as eliminate the disparity in Thai language for children of all racial backgrounds living in Thailand, which is in line with Section 4 of the corporate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ensuring that everyone has an inclusive and equitable quality education and supports in their lifelong learning opportunities. With success from fundraising activity, more than 6.9 million baht has been donated in the span of 1 September 2019 to 31 December 2022 by Tops customers nationwide including by Tops itself. The donation has been given with an intention of delivering a sustainable power of educational opportunities to children in Thailand.
“For more than 20 years, Tops has committed itself in many projects with UNICEF Thailand as a partner in helping and improving the quality of life of people in the country, such as the mobile library project, or the promotion of reading culture in the weekly reading activity, which can help elevate the reading and writing skills in children with the hope that such a power will deliver good things for underprivileged children in Thailand. Education will be the main factor in producing quality life skills as a way of applying a tool for professional practice in their future lives, concluded Stephane
