"Nuoi em" project has not paid for meals, school urgently meets

(Dan Tri) - Up to now, Mai Son Kindergarten (Nhon Mai commune, Nghe An) has not received payment for October's meal allowance from the "Nuoi em Nghe An" project, while the project manager cannot be contacted.

For more than a month now, Ms. Hoang Thi Lan, Principal of Mai Son Kindergarten (Nhon Mai Commune, Nghe An ), has been "sitting on hot coals" when the advance meal money for students has not been paid by the "Nuoi Em Nghe An" project. The Nuoi Em Nghe An project is an independent project, not part of the system of the Nuoi Em Hoang Hoa Trung project.

The female principal contacted Ms. Do Thi Nga, manager of the Nghe An Children's Volunteer Project, many times, but did not receive a clear answer. After that, Ms. Nga's phone number was in "unreachable" status.

According to Ms. Lan, the "Nuoi em Nghe An" project will be implemented at the school from the 2023-2024 school year. 61 children will receive support from the project at a rate of 7,000 VND/meal, the remaining cost of boarding meals will be contributed by parents.

Lunch for children at Mai Son Kindergarten (Photo: Hoang Lan).

By the 2024-2025 school year, 69 children will receive meal support at the rate of VND8,000/meal. The project has fully paid these subsidies when the school sent relevant documents.

In the 2025-2026 school year, the project will start supporting from October 6, with 144 children receiving support of 8,000 VND/child/meal. In the first week of implementation, the project will support boarding meals for children from Monday to Thursday, and in the following weeks, support will be provided from Monday to Friday.

From November 17, the project representative informed the school to increase the support level to 10,000 VND/child/meal.

“Every time the project announces a change in the number of meals supported or the level of support, we have to notify the parents to adjust their contributions to ensure meals for the children,” Ms. Lan informed.

According to the accounting data, in October, the project's meal budget for 144 children was more than 19.5 million VND. The school has sent documents but has not yet received payment from the "Nuoi em Nghe An" project.

However, the project side announced that they would continue to support boarding meals for the children at school as previously committed, so Ms. Lan felt secure in organizing the boarding lunch.

Mai Son Kindergarten is located in a border commune, most of the students are ethnic minorities (Photo: Hoang Lan).

“I am asking the accountant to summarize the details of the November meal allowance that the children received from the project. Because they did not announce the end of support, we continued to implement it in December, but now I cannot contact Ms. Nga, and when I contacted the person directly in charge, they did not give a clear answer,” Ms. Lan shared.

The female principal is extremely worried about public opinion about the lack of transparency of the "Nuoi em Nghe An" project in recent days, as well as the fate of more than 50 million VND that was advanced to pay for organizing meals for the children but has not been paid by the project.

Ms. Lan also said that previously, at Ms. Nga's request, the payment for the children's meals was transferred to the school principal's personal account. After many times Ms. Lan requested to transfer the payment to the school's account, the project side recently agreed.

She was also very surprised to hear that the project also mobilized sponsors to spend 50,000 VND to buy trays, spoons, and chopsticks to serve meals for the children.

“Since the project was implemented at the school, we have only been paid for meals, and have never received trays, spoons, or chopsticks,” the female principal informed.

On the morning of December 9, the school held an urgent meeting with parents to agree on a plan to ensure meals for the children. The school leaders also sent a report to the Commune People's Committee regarding the delay in payment of support from the "Nuoi em Nghe An" project.

On December 8, the Criminal Police Department, Nghe An Provincial Police, investigated information reflecting the lack of transparency in the activities of the "Nuoi Em Nghe An" project.

According to the introduction, the project "Feeding Children of Nghe An" was implemented since 2019 with the goal of supporting nutritious meals for poor students in border communes and mountainous areas of Nghe An province.

Donors transfer money directly into project accounts to support specific programs or children.

On some fundraising posts on the project's Fanpage, Ms. Do Thi Nga was introduced as the head of the committee and project manager.

Dan Tri reporter tried to contact Ms. Do Thi Nga via the phone number posted on the documents of the Fanpage project "Nuoi em Nghe An", but was unsuccessful.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/du-an-nuoi-em-chua-thanh-toan-tien-an-nha-truong-hop-khan-20251209095903168.htm