Teachers on the “cloud” - a closer look at the online volunteer teaching program in China

In October, three of our employees set out on the journey of a lifetime to Yunnan Province as volunteer teachers to surprise their classrooms with a special in-person visit. This rare opportunity for our teachers to meet face-to-face with their students has not only brought a bright smile to the little ones’ faces, but also reminded us why we do what we do for our local communities.

Back in September 2022, Volvo Car China launched an online volunteer teaching program for our employees. Working with the well-established local NGO platform “Volunteer online project 2.0”, the program recruited a select group of our employees to teach children who live in rural, underprivileged areas lacking access to quality education.

“Volunteer online project 2.0” connects organisations like us with primary schools in remote areas that need more resources for its students. By providing the right technology infrastructure like computers and audio-video equipment as well as training, their classrooms can offer kids a richer curriculum of classes through engaging online courses.

The program ultimately aims to open up new windows of learning and education for young children, exposing them to a variety of subjects taught by highly qualified volunteer teachers, ranging from art, science, lego, music, and English classes. Through these online courses, the children can learn from a diverse range of multi-media presentations and materials, accompanied by the teachers’ instruction.

Luo Shuchun, one of the fifth graders at Nanji Elementary School, said, “It’s really interesting to learn new subjects with our teachers. They bring unique stories and perspectives to things like art and science, and now I’m curious about what I can become one day too. Seeing my teacher in person was the biggest surprise ever, and I hope they can come back to visit us again soon!”

Empowering our Volvoers to pursue their dreams

When we started recruiting volunteers for the program last year, we couldn’t have predicted the overwhelming amount of interest from our employees to sign up. However, becoming a teacher requires commitment and dedication. Not only did we look for those who are qualified, but also those who can commit to a 45-minute class at the same time every week for at least 4 months(one semester).

More than 60 employees applied for the opportunity, and a total of 24 have since gone on to teach on the “cloud” through the program in 2022 and 2023, after passing the whole interview and training processes. Tremendous efforts and enthusiasm having been put into such a great thing by those 24 volunteers. By the end of the year, more than 400 classes over nearly 280 hours of online teaching have been achieved. It is planned to continue growing the program to include more volunteers in the future.

Xu Wenyu, colour material design engineer, is one of the volunteers who teaches art classes for the program. He commented: “I’m incredibly grateful and humbled by this opportunity to teach these children. While I get open up their imaginations and spark curiosity in young minds, they also inspire me to keep learning and growing in my work. It’s a mutual growth relationship, and seeing their faces light up every week makes me proud of what I do.”

Nurturing the next generation of dreamers, thinkers, and doers is important for us. As a global company and industry-leader, we recognise our responsibility to empower people and local

communities with more opportunities for success. The volunteer teaching program also gives our Volvoers a chance to do what they love while giving back to those in need. It’s a win-win situation and we love to give our people the freedom to pursue their own dreams and passions.