When kindness is taken advantage of

(Baonghean) - After Nghe An Newspaper published the article "How to donate like that, should?” In the issue published on April 13, 2015, public opinion had many opinions about the activities of performing arts and donating money in the difficult mountainous districts in the province of the Center for Vocational Guidance and Training, Supporting Disadvantaged Children (under the Central Association for Promoting Education of Vietnam). After receiving more information about the activities of this Center from the localities, it was realized that the relevant agencies need to tighten the management work...

Many localities were "startled"

According to Mr. Tran Minh Hai, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Thai Hoa Town, on January 6, 2015, the Department received Official Letter No. 13/TrT-PTT of the Center for Vocational Guidance and Training, Supporting Disadvantaged Children from the People's Committee of Thai Hoa Town. The content of the Official Letter on "Meeting and exchanging cultural activities on the topic of Community Bridge" was signed by Mr. Doi The Long, Permanent Deputy Director of the Center for Vocational Guidance and Training, Supporting Disadvantaged Children with the request: "The People's Committee of Thai Hoa Town is very interested in creating conditions for disabled and disadvantaged students of our center to meet and exchange culture and art with students in the town". Because the Official Letter is a "respectful" note from the leader of Thai Hoa Town with the content: "Request the Department to arrange reasonable time at schools for the center's children to exchange with students of other schools", so on January 8, the Department of Education of the town sent an official letter to primary and secondary schools in the area.

In the document, the department announced the plan for cultural exchanges at schools, along with the request for schools to help the center: Notify representatives of parents, staff, and teachers of the school to attend in large numbers to cheer and encourage the spirit of charity support, in the spirit of volunteering, to help disadvantaged disabled children... Based on the spirit of the above document, this group organized exchanges and donated money at 19 schools from the morning of January 22 to the morning of January 29, 2015 (on average, each day there were exchanges and donations at 3 schools). "We also could not evaluate the content of the cultural programs, nor did we see the Department of Culture or any competent agencies grant permission for the performance content. I know that donating money is not good, but because I trust the recommendation of the Town People's Committee, and because I saw that the group of disabled children came from Hanoi, I asked the schools to create conditions for the group in the spirit of volunteering..." - Mr. Tran Minh Hai said.

A group of disabled workers practice sewing at the Vocational Guidance and Training Center - Support for Children with Disabilities in Hanoi.

Similar to Thai Hoa Town, on December 22, 2014, the Department of Education and Training of Tan Ky District also issued Document No. 1084/PGD&DT-TH on the Guidelines for the Cultural Exchange "Community Bridge" for students in difficult circumstances in the 2014-2015 school year to primary and secondary schools in the area. The document stated the purpose and significance of the exchange to share and help disabled students and students in difficult circumstances, especially with the precious tradition of the Vietnamese people "The whole leaves cover the torn leaves"; Through the exchange activities, life skills education for students, love for humanity, and life values ​​education for students. At the same time, "remind" students to demonstrate through practical actions at the exchange such as: Voluntarily supporting, assisting, and providing material assistance to disabled students with especially difficult circumstances so that they can integrate and live with the community.

Along with that is the exchange schedule at 19 schools from December 26, 2014 to January 6, 2015. Head of the Department of Education and Training of Tan Ky district, Trinh Huu Thanh said: "Last year, when the group came to discuss the issue of performing and exchanging, we also created conditions because we saw that they were disabled people, and had the opinion of the district, but the education sector required the Center to report the results of activities and the capital collected after the exchange, but after performing and raising money, the center left without reporting. At the end of 2014, the Center came again, also because of the psychology of sympathy, sharing and believing that there was the opinion of the district, we also created conditions for the group to operate but limited the number of schools. Not only this center, but currently, the education and training sector also has a headache because it often has to receive groups coming to ask for charity money. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 6 groups under the name of centers for disabled people, orthopedics, and humanitarian organizations coming to the education department to sell pens, statues of famous people, and notebooks to raise money. They also presented letters of introduction from this or that organization, but we do not know the truth. If they do not buy, they will not leave, if they buy, they have to pay. pocket because the education sector has no funding…”.

In Ky Son district, the Department of Education and Training, after receiving comments from the People's Committee, also issued an official dispatch assigning schools to organize cultural exchanges with the delegation of the Vocational Guidance and Training Center, supporting disadvantaged children. Although the official dispatch did not mention the call for donations, it still took place as reported by Nghe An Newspaper. Ms. Cut Thi Nguyet, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ky Son district, said that when the center came to raise the issue, the district was very concerned because it saw that the delegation was mainly made up of disabled children. Ky Son is still very poor, officials, people, and students are receiving donations from philanthropists everywhere, but when they saw disabled children coming from Hanoi asking to exchange and perform cultural performances, the district "could not refuse". "However, it was only agreed to the cultural exchange, but there was no call for officials, people, and students to donate money. However, the delegation still organized a fundraising campaign..." - Ms. Nguyet said.

In fact, the main goal of the activity "Meeting and exchanging cultural activities on the theme of Community Bridge" of the Vocational Guidance and Training Center for disadvantaged children is to call for support to create funding for the center. Teacher Nguyen Thi Chau, Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Quy Chau district, said that in early January 2015, when the center's staff came to ask for an exchange and performance, the leaders of the Department of Education and Training knew that there would be a fundraising performance because a year ago, the center had come to exchange and raise money. The Department had always discussed that Quy Chau students and teachers were very poor, so donating money at the schools was not appropriate. However, seeing the disabled children coming from Hanoi, it was impossible to refuse, so based on the circumstances of the schools, they only introduced the exchange at Chau Hanh Primary School and Hanh Thiet Secondary School. "The Department only instructed the two schools to arrange a time for the exchange and arrange for staff, teachers, and students to fully participate; it is possible to arrange for extracurricular activities or Team activities to be integrated so that students can participate at the highest rate without mentioning anything about donations. And even though the schedule was set at two locations, the delegation did not arrive without a clear reason why?" - Ms. Nguyen Thi Chau wondered.

In Tuong Duong district, when the representative of the above-mentioned vocational guidance center requested to exchange, the district leaders also agreed and assigned the Department of Education and Training to notify the schools. However, at this time, Nghe An Newspaper published an article "Should we do this way of fundraising?", so the district leaders reminded the Department of Education and Training to only allow cultural exchanges and not to allow the calling for donations to take place. After that, the district received an official dispatch from the center with the content of suspending the operation. "We then checked, in 2014, this group returned to Tuong Duong once and also with the form of cultural exchanges and calling for donations. The places that received a lot like Yen Hoa commune, about 10 million VND, were happy, but the places that received less like Hoa Binh town, about 1.5 million VND, they showed an unhappy attitude. I think that is not good..." - a district leader said.

Many people, after reading the newspaper report on the above incident, raised the question: Why does the Vocational Guidance and Training Center for the Disabled mainly ask to perform in mountainous, remote, and border areas? Is it true that the kindness of teachers, students, and parents in mountainous areas is being taken advantage of? And why does the Vocational Guidance and Training Center for the Disabled, a unit of the Central Association for the Promotion of Education of Vietnam, do such things?

What did the "donation" side say?

Nghe An Newspaper reporters had a working session with the leaders of the vocational training center, Mr. Doi The Long and Mr. Nguyen Duc Thinh (both holding the title of Deputy Director) right at the headquarters of this unit at house number 8, lot 3, Nam La Khe urban area, Ha Dong district, Hanoi city. At this center, there is vocational guidance, vocational training and job creation for people with disabilities aged 7-40. A group of people with congenital deafness and muteness are taught sewing, then, either the center introduces them to jobs or the center creates jobs right at the headquarters; another group is trained in vocal skills by the center and becomes a source of "artistic exchange" groups.

"The center has a document requesting the establishment of art troupes and has received written approval from the Central Association for the Promotion of Education. Currently, we have 3 troupes," said Mr. Doi The Long. And in order to "give the children the opportunity to integrate into the community and demonstrate their abilities," the center has organized art exchange trips to schools across the country.

Students of Ky Son Town Primary School donated money after the cultural exchange program.

According to the establishment decision, the center has the function of cooperating, inviting organizations and individuals with passion to contribute to raising, teaching, and creating jobs for children with disabilities; coordinating with agencies, departments, sectors, social organizations, philanthropists... to organize events, raise funds to support children with disabilities and poor children; in addition, for artistic activities, the Department of Performing Arts agrees with the condition that the program content must be notified to the Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism for censorship.

However, after being fully informed about the activities in Nghe An, that is, working to have the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism censor the content; not reporting to the Provincial Association for Promotion of Education about the activities in the area; organizing activities that are heavily focused on fundraising in extremely difficult areas, creating negative reactions among officials and people; not complying with the provisions of the law on the organization and operation of social and charitable funds as clearly stated in Decree No. 30/2012/ND-CP dated April 12, 2012 of the Government... Mr. Doi The Long and Mr. Nguyen Duc Thinh realized that the activities of the center in Nghe An in the recent past still had shortcomings that needed to be corrected. Mr. Doi The Long said: "Our center is really facing many difficulties. Therefore, in order to take care of the work and let the children participate in activities, we have to actually call for volunteers. We are very grateful for the suggestions from Nghe An Newspaper, through which we will adjust our activities to be more suitable and create a better image...".

Don't let your kindness be taken advantage of.

Why can the Center for vocational guidance and support for the disabled organize exchange and fundraising activities, even though this method is not very beautiful and not in accordance with regulations? It can be affirmed that the reason is because of a sympathetic and concerned mentality towards the situation of disabled children and the long geographical distance from Hanoi to the mountainous area for cultural exchanges, so responsible people in the localities have taken actions to create favorable conditions. However, through this incident, local authorities and relevant agencies must learn from experience, cannot let "sympathy" lead to not only officials, people and their own agencies being taken advantage of.

Over the years, many organizations and individuals have taken advantage of the kindness, honesty, simplicity, lack of information and understanding of people in rural and mountainous areas, especially people from ethnic minority areas, to make profits. For example, in Tuong Duong district, a photo printing company took advantage of the trust of hundreds of members of the Veterans Association and the Association of the Elderly to make worthless "Eight Golden Words" and "Older Age, Higher Intelligence" certificates, selling them for 250,000 - 350,000 VND in 2014. Or, in 2013, a number of Women's Unions at all levels "created conditions" for a soy milk production company to sell Van Xuan soy milk products; some companies took advantage of health seminars to sell functional foods and poor quality household goods to farmers in rural areas; or the situation where individuals disguise themselves as members of humanitarian centers and charitable organizations often come to the facilities to sell toothpicks, pens, photos or souvenirs... Therefore, it must be seen that the management work has long had many loopholes. It is necessary to distinguish "gold from brass", not to let the kindness of officials and people be taken advantage of.

PV Group