Project to Raise Children Who "Owe" Support Money: School Must Advance More Than 50 Million to Maintain Boarding Meals

For over 2 months, Mai Son Kindergarten (Nhon Mai commune, Nghe An province) has had to advance the budget to maintain meals for boarding students because the "Nuoi em Nghe An" project has not paid the support money as previously committed. When the school contacted to ask about the disbursement progress, they could not contact the project manager.

Affirmed continued support then... disappeared

On December 9, speaking with a reporter from PNVN Newspaper, Ms. Hoang Thi Lan, Principal of Mai Son Kindergarten, said that for over a month she has been in a state of anxiety and worry because the school has advanced the boarding meal fee for students but has not been reimbursed by the "Nuoi Em Nghe An " project.

According to Ms. Lan, "Nuoi Em Nghe An" is an independent volunteer project that will start providing meals for students at the school from the 2023-2024 school year. In the first school year, 61 children will receive 7,000 VND/meal, the remaining cost will be contributed by parents. In the 2024-2025 school year, the number of supported students will increase to 69, the support level will be raised to 8,000 VND/meal; all expenses will be paid in full after the school completes the documents.

However, the instability began to arise from the 2025-2026 school year. According to the plan, from October 6, the project supported 144 children, each meal costing 8,000 VND. In the first week, the project only supported from Monday to Thursday, the following weeks supported from Monday to Friday every week. On November 17, the project continued to announce an increase in the support level to 10,000 VND/meal.

"Every time the project changes the number of support days or the meal allowance, the school must notify parents to adjust the contribution, ensuring that the children's meals are not affected," said Ms. Lan.

According to the accounting department's statistics, in October 2025 alone, the project's meal budget to support 144 students amounted to more than 19.5 million VND. Although the school has completed the documents and sent them to the project, it has not yet received any payment. Because the project continues to affirm that it will maintain its support as committed, Mai Son Kindergarten still has to advance the budget to maintain boarding meals for students in the following months.

Since mid-November, Ms. Lan has repeatedly contacted Ms. Do Thi Nga - the person introduced as the project manager - to ask about the disbursement progress but has not received any specific responses. After that, Ms. Nga's phone number fell into "unreachable" status.

"I have asked the accountant to summarize the detailed budget for November and December for comparison. However, I am currently unable to contact the project side, and the person directly in charge has not given a clear answer," said Ms. Lan.

The school held an urgent meeting with parents.

According to the female principal, she is very worried about the recent doubts about the financial transparency of the "Nuoi em Nghe An" project, while the amount of money the school has advanced for students' meals has now exceeded 50 million VND.

The majority of students at Mai Son Kindergarten are ethnic minorities.

Notably, previously, at the request of Ms. Do Thi Nga, the meal subsidy money was transferred to the principal's personal account. After many requests from the school, the project recently agreed to switch to payment through the school's account.

Ms. Lan also added that on social networks, the project had called on benefactors to support 50,000 VND/child to buy trays, spoons, and chopsticks for the school's lunch. However, according to her, since its implementation, the school has only received money for meals and has not received any support for these items.

This morning, December 9, Mai Son Kindergarten held an urgent meeting with parents to discuss a plan to continue providing meals for students in the context of the project's funding not being paid.

In case the project officially stops supporting, the school will be forced to calculate a plan for parents to contribute to cover the shortfall in funding to maintain meals for the children. However, according to Ms. Lan, what worries the school the most is that most of the school's students come from poor families, many of them in remote areas, with extremely limited economic conditions.

"If we collect the money immediately, we will feel sorry for the parents, because there are families who are struggling to make ends meet. Therefore, for now, the school is still trying to hold on, not rushing to collect more money from parents, and at the same time, we continue to wait for an official response from the project," Ms. Lan shared.

According to Ms. Lan, in all situations, the school's biggest priority is still to ensure that the children have full, uninterrupted meals, but the financial pressure is getting heavier as the advance payment has reached tens of millions of dong. The principal of Mai Son Kindergarten said that the school has also reported the whole incident to the People's Committee of Nhon Mai commune.

Previously, on December 8, the Criminal Police Department, Nghe An Provincial Police, investigated reports related to signs of lack of transparency in the activities of the "Nuoi Em Nghe An" project.

Currently, on social networks and in public opinion, there is interest in two projects with the same name "Raising Children" but are completely unrelated to each other.

"Nuoi em Nghe An": Activities at some kindergartens in disadvantaged areas in Nghe An province; calling for sponsorship for children's meals. The project is currently being reported to have not paid for meals, and the person in charge is out of contact.

"Nuoi em" founded by Mr. Hoang Hoa Trung is an independent charity project, operating for many years in many provinces with the form of direct sponsorship for students in mountainous areas. Currently, this project is also being questioned about the situation of duplicate donation codes and the account receiving money being frozen.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/du-an-nuoi-em-no-tien-ho-tro-truong-phai-tam-ung-hon-50-trieu-duy-tri-bua-an-ban-tru-23825120913580826.htm