From May 14 to June 28, 2020, derived from the humanity of the school’s educational philosophy, from hundreds of old furniture that seemed to be discarded, officers and students of HCM Universityof Technology and Education had restored and repainted those to give poor students who were in difficult circumstances at Dao Duy Tu Secondary School (Dak Lak), Le Loi High School (Phu Yen) and Giong Thi Dam Secondary School - High School (Dong Thap).
In recent years, the school has changed the entire learning desk into a portable hexagonal desk to meet the need of evolving equipment and innovating teaching methods. Realizing that the old tables and chairs will be discarded one by one, Associate Professor, Assoc.Pro. Do Van Dung - President of Ho Chi Minh University of Technology and Education, instructed the Youth Union of the school to coordinate with the Department of Equipment and Materials to renew 600 sets of tables and chairs. Afterwards, they were transferred to schools where there was a shortage of furniture for students to study.
The project had met difficulties in transporting to locations such as Dak Lak, Phu Yen, and Dak Nong optimally. Therefore, a group of students from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering came up with the idea of using a plasma cutter to ‘separate’ these tables into pieces and after transferring, the group will ‘attach’ them according to a 5-step process: weld the tables to give them their old look; grinding and polishing iron frames; scrub furniture; paint the table, dry it and finally attach the new table top and chair to complete a new table.
Mr. Le Xuan Than - Secretary of the Delegation from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education shared: “If you sell them as scrap, each set is only about 70,000 VND. It’s very cheap and doesn’t have any meaning. Even though we spend time and money to refresh the table, paint, ..., it will be very meaningful. Our school is willing to pay, so we should start doing it right away. Despite the hard work, everyone is working together from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a feeling of great joy and pride in being able to share a part in underpriviledged places. ”
By doing so, the school’s student group had just completed the first round of donation of 80 sets of tables and chairs to Dao Duy Tu Secondary School in the suburbs of Buon Me Thuot City (Dak Lak). The next destination is Le Loi High School in Phu Yen province and Giong Thi Dam Secodary School - High School in Dong Thap province with 100 sets for each school. In the near future, the school also plans to donate tables and chairs to a number of high schools in the provinces. Hopefully, such meaningful actions will be repeated and it will spread the message of sharing to everyone.