More than 40 special buses left Ho Chi Minh City in the early morning of February 10 to bring 2,600 disadvantaged students home for the holidays.

Each rotation of the wheels lightened the mood of the hardworking students, as they grew closer to their loved ones and the festive cheer of the Lunar New Year (Tet).

The buses are part of an annual charity programme to assist needy, disabled or ethnic minority students. First held in 2002, it has provided free transportation opportunities to over 34,600 beneficiaries.

According to Quach Hai Dat, Director of the HCMC Centre for Student Support and head of the programme’s management board, said the 2015 “spring buses” received a warm response from the community including substantial donations from former student beneficiaries.

The Centre for Student Support organised the meaningful journey in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, student union, and the municipal chapter of the Vietnam Fatherland Front.-VNA