Nghe An: Many schools become places to market pots and pans

(Baonghean.vn) - Over the past month, a series of schools in Nam Dan and Thanh Chuong districts have disregarded regulations and allowed some people to enter to market and sell household goods to teachers.

About a week after the opening ceremony, two men claiming to be officials of a company contacted the leadership of Hung Tien Primary School (Hung Tien Commune, Nam Dan) to introduce the product. These two men presented the company's introduction letter to the principal with the content "... introducing products, gratitude programs, giving gifts and creating entertainment programs to help reduce stress and fatigue for teachers in the school".

Mr. Vo Hong Luong - Principal of Hung Tien Primary School said that at first the school board refused because of the rule that selling goods in schools is not allowed. However, these two people still tried to convince him.

“They said that they came here for charity purposes, to give gifts to teachers at the beginning of the school year. Only then did I agree. I also told them that giving gifts is okay, but they are not allowed to sell anything here,” Mr. Luong said. At that time, these two people promised to give 10 gifts to teachers, each worth 60,000 VND. In addition, the school staff will also be given a gift worth 2 million VND.

Blenders and electric pots and pans costing millions of dong are being sold in schools. Photo: Tien Hung.

A few days later, while all the teachers of Hung Tien Primary School were having a meeting, these two people came. They brought goods including pots, pans, light bulbs, shower heads... into the hall to introduce.

“They brought out the products and showed how to use them. At that time, I thought they were “communicating knowledge” on how to use some household items, which was also useful, so I let them continue,” Mr. Luong explained. After introducing the products with flattering words, these two people showed their generosity by giving 30 teachers, each one an LED light, which they said was worth up to 70,000 VND.

To gain trust, these people continued to give some teachers other items such as shower heads and electric pots and pans. However, when introducing the expensive product, the rice cooker, these two people said that they would no longer give it away for free but would only sell it for more than 2,350,000 VND.

“I don’t know how many teachers bought that rice cooker. Because when we were at school, only three teachers registered to buy it. But after the car left the gate, many other teachers felt confident and continued to stay to buy more. Actually, thinking back now, I feel I was too subjective. That was a lesson, we will learn from it for next time,” Mr. Luong said.

Along with the trick of "giving gifts of gratitude" to teachers to approach schools to sell goods, Mr. Tran Quyet Tien - Principal of Van Dien 1 Primary School (Van Dien Commune, Nam Dan), said that up to 7 teachers at the school bought goods from these people.

“They said they came to give gifts and advertise products. I agreed but only allowed them to enter the school after school. Because it was after office hours, it was okay,” said Mr. Tien. Seven teachers bought seven blenders worth VND2,350,000. Later, they were also given a rice cooker each.

Considering it a mistake and learning from it, Principal Tien said that currently most teachers have not used these products so the quality is still unclear.

Meanwhile, also in Van Dien commune, Ms. Tran Thi Hong, Principal of Van Dien Secondary School, said that after the new school year began, she received many phone calls from these people asking to enter the school to "give gifts" to the teachers.

“They called me but they always called during lunch break. They deliberately spoke in a low voice when introducing the company, so I was suspicious. After that, I said that I needed an introduction letter from the education department or the district chairman to be allowed into the school. I waited for the next few days but they never came again,” Ms. Hong said.

Hung Tien Primary School. Photo: Tien Hung

To understand the issue, we contacted Mr. Ha The Dong, one of the two people who came to sell goods at Hung Tien Primary School. This man said that he is an officer of the Business - Law Media Joint Stock Company, headquartered in Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi.

Mr. Dong confirmed that he was the one who sold the rice cookers to the teachers, but insisted that it was just one of the company's "gratitude programs" sent to teachers at the beginning of the school year?!

“Not only schools in Nam Dan, but also in Thanh Chuong district. All products are produced by our company. I think this is not related to expertise so there is no need to ask permission from local leaders as well as education leaders,” said Mr. Dong.

Regarding the question of many products being offered for sale in this form but discovered after a while to be fake, Mr. Dong admitted that this situation exists. “There are other companies. Our company guarantees the quality,” Mr. Dong said.

Meanwhile, expressing his frustration about the situation of selling and introducing products in schools, Mr. Le Trung Son, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dan district, said that from the beginning of the school year, the department had informed each principal that these people were not allowed to enter the school.

“I just mentioned it a few days ago. The school is not a marketplace. If anything happens in the future, the principal will be held responsible,” Mr. Son said.

Expressing doubts about the quality of these products, Mr. Son said that they were all cheap goods, sold at prices dozens of times higher than the market price.

“A few years ago, this kind of sales situation flourished in Nam Dan, they even went to the commune headquarters to introduce the products. After that, the district leaders had to send an official dispatch to each agency and locality to absolutely ban it. After a while, it reappeared. I heard that many schools let them in to sell, and many teachers bought fake products. But maybe because they were ashamed, they hid it,” said Mr. Son.

Tien Hung