VietNamNet Bridge – Lam Thi Hoang Ching, a fourth-year student at the HCM City National College of Education, was all smiles when she received a free bus ticket to go home for Tet from the Student Assistance Centre.

When she heard she was in the list, she did not believe it and ran straight to the Centre to check, she says.

"Very lucky," she says with a happy smile.

She can now return to her hometown in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak's Krong Pac District to welcome the Year of the Cat.

Though doing her internship this year and unable to work part-time, she says she no longer has to worry if she will have enough money for the fare which will, as usual, skyrocket just before the New Year.

When her class monitor announced that the Centre would provide free tickets to disadvantaged students from mountainous and rural regions, especially those affected by the last floods in the central region, she immediately applied, Ching says.

"My parents are old and I am their only child after my brother died in the floods."

Ho Thi Hong Hanh, a third-year student at the University of Economics and Law, was also happy to get the free ticket.

Her parents, who live in Quang Nam, one of the flood-hit provinces, have been unable to send her money this year to because they spent it on repairing their flood-damaged house.

She thought she would not be able to visit home, Hanh says.

"The Centre's programme is helpful because it helps many disadvantaged students like me to enjoy Tet with their family."

Many students stay back in the city during the holidays because they cannot afford tickets, she adds, hoping there are more such programmes.

The programme, which started in 2003, has provided the tickets to 2,700 poor students hailing from disadvantaged places country-wide and studying in HCM City.

Of them, 1,800 are from central provinces like Phu Yen, Quang Nam, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Nghe An, and others.

The programme is carried out in co-operation with the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Committee.

So far, nearly 23,000 students have benefited, Le Xuan Dung, the Centre's administrative manager, says.

Nearly 300,000 out of 500,000 university students in the city are from outside, he says.

Though the Centre realises that many disadvantaged students cannot afford the bus fares to return home for Tet, it cannot afford to help all of them, he says.

However, for those staying back during Tet, the Centre co-operates with Q-Mobile Company to organise entertainment programmes and meetings with famous artists and gives New Year gifts to them.

Dung says these are meant to help them get over their homesickness and enjoy a happy Tet.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News