Preschool students eat rice with ginger and salt, what does Mu Cang Chai district say?

Image of students with lunch boxes of white rice with ginger and white salt on TV - Screenshot

On the evening of September 26, in the 24-hour news program Chuyen Dong on VTV1, a report was broadcast "White rice with ginger at Mang Mu school, Yen Bai" which made many people feel sorry when seeing preschool students having to eat rice with ginger dipped in salt, rice with sugar...

The report was recorded at Mang Mu school, Mo De commune, Mu Cang Chai district, Yen Bai.

Students eat ginger rice with salt

The report recorded a scene of a parent digging up fresh ginger, then slicing it into small pieces, along with a little white salt, for her child to bring to school for lunch.

And the lunch box with ginger and white salt is this student's lunch in class. Some other students bring lunch boxes with white rice and sugar.

The teachers cooked a pot of soup with four cabbages so that the 138 students could enjoy their rice better with hot soup.

After seeing the image of the students' lunch box with ginger and white salt, many people expressed their sadness, some were skeptical "is the report staged?", "people are still poor, but are they really this poor?"...

How did Mu Cang Chai district report the incident?

On the evening of September 27, the People's Committee of Mu Cang Chai district reported to the People's Committee of Yen Bai province about the content reflected in the reportage of the program Chuyen Dong 24h broadcast on VTV1 about Mang Mu school, Mo De kindergarten, Mo De commune, Mu Cang Chai district, Yen Bai.

According to the report, in the 2024-2025 school year, Mo De Kindergarten was assigned 15 classes with 415 children, of which Mang Mu satellite school has 5 classes with 141 students from 2 to 5 years old.

Regarding the implementation of policies, according to the People's Committee of Mu Cang Chai district, the school organizes lunch for children at the main and separate locations, and the children's policies have been paid directly to the children's parents when approved and funded.

"As for Mang Mu school, because it has a temporary kitchen, it only cooks 2 meals/week on Tuesday and Thursday with the price of 10,000 VND/meal/child (parents contribute food equivalent to 10,000 VND). On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, students bring lunch boxes, the school has promoted to parents and called for social mobilization to cook more hot soup to supplement the children's meals.

Therefore, on September 23 (Monday), the VTV1 reporter team came to the school to make a report, which was the day the children brought lunch boxes, and the school organized to cook hot soup for the children to eat with the support of teachers," the report stated.

Regarding the inspection results, the inspection team met directly with the leaders of Mo De commune, leaders and teachers of Mo De Kindergarten; the Party Secretary of Mang Mu village and some parents of students in Mang Mu village to verify and grasp the reflected information.

According to the report of the District People's Committee, Mr. Mua A Chinh, Secretary of the Mang Mu village Party cell, said that he had grasped the policies of the students and the village had fully propagated the policies and regimes of the Party, the State and all levels to all the people and parents of the students in the village (lunch support for preschool children is 160,000 VND/month/student; support for study expenses is 150,000 VND/month/student,...).

The parent of student Ho A De (the parent in the report who dug ginger for his child to bring to school as food) is the deputy head of the village's security and order team. His family is a farmer, harvesting about 30 bags of rice each year.

In addition, Mr. Ho A De also often works as a hired hand to earn money to cover daily expenses, participates as deputy head of the village's security and order team, and receives regular support of 1.3 million VND/month.

In 2024, his family is included in the district's project to receive support to build a new house, with a support level of 60 million VND.

Mr. Ho A De said that on the days his child brings lunch boxes, he brings rice, instant noodles, eggs, meat, fish, etc. Sometimes, in addition to the food, he adds a few slices of ginger to bring to his child because this is both a spice and a daily dish of the Mong people for many generations.

"On the morning of September 23, I was preparing rice and eggs to put in a lunch box for my child to go to school. At that time, the reporters came to my house and asked me if I had ginger at home to bring to my child, so I went to get ginger and sliced ​​it to bring to my child (at first I only sliced ​​a few slices, but the reporters told me to slice more, so I sliced ​​more).

"I was in such a hurry to get my child to school on time that I didn't have time to make extra eggs for him to bring to school. At the same time, through talking, sharing and partly following the reporter's opinion, I said that about bringing lunch boxes to school for my child," Mr. Ho A De reported.

Reporting the incident, Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen (the teacher in the report) said that she had talked with the reporter for more than an hour about the students' learning conditions and the hardships. When students brought lunch boxes with rice, vegetables and ginger slices to school in the past, the teacher could not hold back her emotions and spoke and cried like that.

Ms. Le Thi Yen, the school principal, reported that Mang Mu school has 5 classes with 138 students. Currently, the school is building 3 new classrooms, so 2 classes have moved to study at the village's cultural house.

According to Ms. Yen, on September 23, a reporter from Chuyen Dong 24h recorded the day the children brought lunch boxes and the school cooked extra vegetable soup and instant noodles for the children to eat.

"Thus, through verification and through the practice of educational institutions, the District People's Committee found that the content reflected by VTV1's Chuyen Dong 24h about the children's lunch at Mang Mu school and Mo De Kindergarten was not comprehensive about the reality at the school, about the basic purpose of calling for support for investment in building facilities for schools.

The People's Committee of Mu Cang Chai district has requested the leaders and teachers of Mo De Kindergarten to report and explain the contents of the report, and at the same time directed the People's Committee of Mo De commune to organize a meeting to disseminate and propagate the policies and guidelines of the Party, State and all levels on policies for students.

"Direct the Department of Education and Training to advise the District People's Committee on documents to rectify school units in receiving support, speaking out and implementing policies and regimes," the report stated.

'The image of students having to eat ginger rice with salt is a bit too much'

Speaking to Tuoi Tre Online on the afternoon of September 27, Ms. Luong Thi Xuyen, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Mu Cang Chai District, Yen Bai, said that based on the reflection on television, the same morning the inspection team of the district People's Committee worked at Mang Mu school to verify the information.

"The image of students having to eat ginger rice with salt on TV is a bit too much."

In Mu Cang Chai, there are no cases of eating rice with ginger alone. People still eat ginger normally as a spice, the Mong people often eat it.

"Bringing the story to television like that is not accurate about people's current lives," said Ms. Xuyen.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hoc-sinh-mam-non-an-com-voi-gung-cham-muoi-huyen-mu-cang-chai-noi-gi-20240927154724111.htm