Teachers use their own money to buy TVs for teaching: Respected but not encouraged

In order to make the lessons more lively, teachers at Tan Quoi 2 Primary School (Thanh Binh District, Dong Thap Province) used their own money to buy televisions to bring to school to teach.

Teachers at Tan Quoi 2 Primary School (Thanh Binh District, Dong Thap Province) bought their own TVs for teaching - Photo: NGOC PHUONG

This story aroused mixed opinions from readers.

Some readers think this is a commendable act. However, others also ask why schools let teachers invest in their own teaching equipment?

Reader Nguyen Cao - a teacher - sent his opinion to Tuoi Tre Online , sharing about the incident.

Valuable work

Stories of teachers doing charity work, contributing to funds launched by the locality or school or joining hands to take care of poor students are almost common in every school.

But the story of a teacher using his own money to buy 18 TVs for teaching purposes probably only happens at Tan Quoi 2 Primary School (Thanh Binh District, Dong Thap), or does it happen elsewhere?

Listening to the school principal, we thought these classes were private classes for teachers, not in a public school.

In fact, Tan Quoi 2 Primary School (Thanh Binh district, Dong Thap province) in particular and schools in Dong Thap province or schools in neighboring provinces are all located in the plains, not in remote areas.

The economic conditions of Thanh Binh district in particular and Dong Thap province in general are not so difficult that they cannot buy 18 televisions to install in classrooms, so at this point, the school has to "mobilize all managers and teachers to join hands and unite" to buy televisions.

Every year, the school budget is spent, including a very specific item on regular purchases. Or if the school budget is not enough to purchase equipment, why doesn't the school request it from higher authorities? Or has it requested it but it hasn't been granted? Or is it because it's too complicated to request it because it has to go through complicated procedures, so it's just done it for convenience?

In documents of the education sector, especially Decision No. 50/2017 dated December 31, 2017 of the Prime Minister regulating standards for the use of machinery and equipment... this issue is also mentioned.

More coordination and attention are needed.

According to research, at some other public schools, television equipment for teaching is provided by superiors, or the school uses the annual operating budget to buy it.

Even if it is too difficult, the school board can call for socialization or mobilize parental support.

For teachers, just buy a laptop and carry it with you every day and connect to teach.

Therefore, when reading the information that teachers at Tan Quoi 2 Primary School used their own money to buy 18 televisions for teaching, the writer felt more sorry for the teachers.

It is even more pitiful to know that the teachers here have used their own salary (or worked extra jobs to earn money) to buy or pool money to support each other in buying televisions for daily teaching.

The kindness of the teachers at Tan Quoi 2 Primary School (Thanh Binh District, Dong Thap Province) is truly noble, not every school can do that!

More sadness than happiness

In fact, schools have been equipped with or calling on parents to sponsor televisions for classrooms for nearly 20 years. Most teachers are too familiar with bringing laptops to class, connecting to televisions to teach.

Yet, it was not until the 2024-2025 school year that many students at Tan Quoi 2 Primary School had televisions thanks to teachers spending their own money to buy them for teaching purposes.

As a fellow teacher, reading this news makes me feel more sad than happy.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/giao-vien-tu-bo-tien-tui-mua-tivi-de-day-hoc-tran-trong-nhung-khong-nen-khuyen-khich-20241212102509353.htm