S-Oil, a leading refinery in Korea, said Thursday it held an event to donate customized learning aids to 90 disabled students from low-income families worth 100 million won ($97,000).

The Saudi Aramco-invested oil refinery launched the campaign to help disabled children from less-privileged homes in 2010.

“The program was designed to prevent these underprivileged youth from being deprived of learning opportunities due to their physical disabilities,” the company said in a press release.

The event was held at the company’s Seoul office in a joint effort with the Gyeonggi Province Assistive Technology Research and Assistance Center. 

Over the past four years, S-Oil’s learning aid program has reached out to a total of 338 disabled children, helping them to regain their self-esteem and encouraging them to learn.

The learning aids delivered this year included electric adjustable desks, portable electronic digital magnifiers, joysticks and text-to-voice players, which were tailored to the disabilities of each student.

The refiner collects recommendations on students who require such educational support from all over the nation. A steering committee made up of rehabilitation engineers then meets with them in person to assess the situation and select the candidates who would be eligible for the support.

“It is quite rewarding when we hear that our small contribution was able to make such a change in the lives of these children by helping them regain their confidence and work toward a better future,” said S-Oil senior vice president Cho Young-il. “We will continue to work on offering sponsorship to reach out to more children across the nation.”

Besides this program, the company has conducted a variety of socially responsible programs as the Korean affliate of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest crude oil exporter.

S-Oil is expected to strengthen its CSR programs in correspondence with Aramco’s growing influence on the firm.

Aramco announced last month it decided to take over a 28.4 stake in S-Oil from Hanjin Energy, an affiliate of Hanjin Group, for $2 billion. Currently, the Saudi energy giant holds a 35 percent stake in S-Oil.

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)