VIR supports students in difficulties amid pandemic

VIR's editor-in-chief Le Trong Minh has been talking directly with the UTC students during the online ceremony

On September 23, an online ceremony between VIR and the University of Transport and Communications (UTC) took place to assist 50 of the university's students from the Faculty of International Education with VND25 million ($1,100), which were donated to the newspaper's Swing for the Kids Fund.

The pandemic has been significantly affecting people in the capital. Of these, thousands of students from the surrounding localities had become stuck in Hanoi, along with financial woes.

“Most students were forced to rent apartments that cost much more than the university dormitory. During the last months’ social distancing, some students left Hanoi and went back to their hometown. However, others like me were stuck in the capital without any relatives and direct financial support. The cost of accommodation increased sharply, while all part-time jobs and income opportunities had been halted. The difficulties were just getting more and more,” said Pham Kien Cuong, a student of the UTC, who is among the lucky ones receiving the support from VIR.

Cuong has been an excellent student, coming from the central province of Ha Tinh. His family is not very well off, as his parents have no stable income and his brother is currently unemployed.

VIR hosted the online scholarship ceremony to grant support for 50 disadvantaged students at the University of Transport and Communication who get stuck in Hanoi amid the lockdown

Seeing the troubles that the students are dealing with, VIR’s editor-in-chief Le Trong Minh, said that he hopes that the small assistance of VIR will contribute to helping them overcome their difficulties.

“Although the scholarships' value is rather small, it shows the heart of VIR and the donors who want to share these difficulties with the students, as well as contributing to the education cause of the country,” said Minh.

Due to the pandemic, this was the first time ever that such scholarships had been handed out online. “According to the practice and commitments with our donors, we prefer to give the scholarships directly to students. However, this was not possible and so the students received the funds via bank transfers as the situation required us to do so,” added VIR’s editor-in-chief.

On behalf of UTC’s leaders, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Trinh, head of the Faculty of International Education, expressed her gratitude to VIR and the Swing for the Kids Fund, hoping to continue to receive "such valuable assistance and scholarships for UTC’s students in the time to come.”

Also in September, VIR’s Fund presented VND50 million ($2,170) to students of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, and VND20 million ($870) to Dong Da district’s Lang Thuong ward’s Fatherland Front Committee, where thousands of students from five universities are living.

The Swing for the Kids Fund received VND1.3 billion ($56,500) from donors like Vingroup, Samsung, BRG, SeaBank, Kinderworld, and hundreds of other companies and entrepreneurs. Of this, VIR directly presented VND1 billion ($43,500) to students across the country, and another VND300 million ($13,000) were delivered to Vietnam’s Promotion Education Fund.

As of date, VIR has presented scholarships to 10 localities across the country, including Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Tuyen Quang, Dien Bien, Phu Yen, Danang, Ninh Thuan, and Hanoi. A total of VND600 million ($26,000) had been delivered to 900 well-performing students who had been in difficulties.