Chinese store caught selling school uniforms supposedly available for free to public school students

[Dolores]

Chinese low cost goods stores have developed in general a reputation for violating tax, city and labor laws. They have again made headlines, this time for selling public school uniforms, of those that should be distributed free to students.

The government supplier of the goods, the National Institute of Student Welfare (Inabie) defended itself, referring to the importer. The Chinese owner of the Chinese store, 20 y 10, in San Antonio de Guerra, said he purchased them from the importer, Inacer.

Francisco Valdez, the owner of the contract for the pants, Inacer, said it was a mistake and posted an even more confusing explanation on its social media. He explained the incident was the result of the misunderstanding by an employee, who failed to notice that 36 pairs of pants had not passed the quality control of the Inabie.

According to the letter signed by...

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[CristoRey]

So long as they pay their dues to the local Chinese Business Association (which I'm sure they do) Uncle Lee will make a phone call or two and this incident will be swept under the rug/ business as usual.

 

[drstock]

What? School uniforms are free? Every year I go and buy uniforms for the kids I help. at a variety pf places, not Chinese. This year I spent a fortune at Sirena.

 

[MariaRubia]

What? School uniforms are free? Every year I go and buy uniforms for the kids I help. at a variety pf places, not Chinese. This year I spent a fortune at Sirena.

I think they are free for public schools, but if your kids go to private schools they have to buy the school's uniform, and it is a total disgrace how much they charge.

 

[NanSanPedro]

Uniforms are such a waste of time and money.

 

[bob saunders]

I think they are free for public schools, but if your kids go to private schools they have to buy the school's uniform, and it is a total disgrace how much they charge.

Really - 350 for sports pants, 300 for t-shirt, 350-400 for polo.

 

[LindseyKaufman]

Schools in Jamao distributed uniforms to students…….all except the Strength for the Journey kids who have graduated into their system. I wrote to the district director asking why they are discriminating against our children who are now registered with them.

He never responded.

 

[bob saunders]

Uniforms are such a waste of time and money.

disagree- less expensive than regular clothing in most cases, and with everybody wearing the same there is no envy.

 

[Manuel01]

disagree- less expensive than regular clothing in most cases, and with everybody wearing the same there is no envy.

Could not agree more !!!! Uniforms do not eliminate bullying completely in schools but reduce the number of victims of it by milions worldwide !!!
Best Invention EVEEEERRRR !!!!!!

 

[Manuel01]

Continue reading...

Don't really see the issue there. Let's say the government ordered 100,000 Uniforms and the importer ordered 50,000 more to benefit from the low purchase price. He later delivered 100,000 to the Government and sold 50,000 by him self. What's the Problem ???? The only mistake he made was purchasing the aditional ones with the same label. Also... the schools hand out for free maybe 2 sets per year. Any aditional Uniforms have to be purchased at the school for a very high price. A girl go's through 4 sets a year without any problems and a normal boy 6 at least. Now they can buy the original uniform for much less. Everybody wins.

 

[drstock]

I think they are free for public schools, but if your kids go to private schools they have to buy the school's uniform, and it is a total disgrace how much they charge.

The kids I help go to public school and I always have to pay, The school is near Lindsey Kaufman's but outside her town, I know I sometimes end up paying for things that other kids don't have to because the school knows a "rich" gringo helps them, but I'll have to look into this.

 

[MariaRubia]

Really - 350 for sports pants, 300 for t-shirt, 350-400 for polo.

Bob with the greatest of respect sir, even a man of your considerable brain-power is not able to quote the price of the uniforms for every school in the country. My kids go to a good school and I just paid nearly RD$ 40,000 for the two of them to cover the cost of their uniforms, books and the things which they need to take to school this year. This on top of the RD$ 130,000 per year per child fee (which is quite reasonable in my opinion).

 

[bob saunders]

Bob with the greatest of respect sir, even a man of your considerable brain-power is not able to quote the price of the uniforms for every school in the country. My kids go to a good school and I just paid nearly RD$ 40,000 for the two of them to cover the cost of their uniforms, books and the things which they need to take to school this year. This on top of the RD$ 130,000 per year per child fee (which is quite reasonable in my opinion).

You said, " I think they are free for public schools, but if your kids go to private schools, they have to buy the school's uniform, and it is a total disgrace how much they charge." Your comment was about private schools, not just the one your children go to. 20,000 per student for books and uniforms is overcharging, especially on top of the high fee that you are paying. Private schools vary in prices and quality but rarely is the price they charge for uniforms a huge expense.

 

[keepcoming]

Colegio Santo Domingo came in around 120K (pesos) for my niece (paid with our credit card so looking at exchange rate). Then 18k (pesos) for extra uniforms, extra books. Is the uniform a "huge expense" no but it is not cheap either.

 

[NanSanPedro]

Colegio Santo Domingo came in around 120K (pesos) for my niece (paid with our credit card so looking at exchange rate). Then 18k (pesos) for extra uniforms, extra books. Is the uniform a "huge expense" no but it is not cheap either.

This is why I despise uniforms. Making poor people pay more for something totally unneeeded. I battled this in Haiti too. Never won as it's way to imbedded in the culture.

 

[bob saunders]

This is why I despise uniforms. Making poor people pay more for something totally unneeeded. I battled this in Haiti too. Never won as it's way to imbedded in the culture.

ok, why do you think it isn't needed, or a good system. My kids went to public school in Canada until grade ten, then went to a catholic school where uniforms were required. They actually liked it better as there was no worrying about what they were going to wear to school the next day...etc. Every kid wore the same thing, rich or poor, and yes there are poor people in Canada. We aren't really fussy with what shoes the students wear, black is preferred but not a hard requirement, Khaki pants which are cheap and everywhere. There are many foundations that help with school clothing. We have a lot of parents that return clothing that their children have outgrown or if they attend another school. These are given to poor parents, and in a place the size of Jarabacoa, most people know who is poor.

 

[NanSanPedro]

ok, why do you think it isn't needed, or a good system. My kids went to public school in Canada until grade ten, then went to a catholic school where uniforms were required. They actually liked it better as there was no worrying about what they were going to wear to school the next day...etc. Every kid wore the same thing, rich or poor, and yes there are poor people in Canada. We aren't really fussy with what shoes the students wear, black is preferred but not a hard requirement, Khaki pants which are cheap and everywhere. There are many foundations that help with school clothing. We have a lot of parents that return clothing that their children have outgrown or if they attend another school. These are given to poor parents, and in a place the size of Jarabacoa, most people know who is poor.

Because it's an unnecessary expense. In the US or Canada it's not a problem because most have the $ to buy uniforms and the trinkets that go with them. But when you're trying to fund a school and they add money for uniforms it's just a complete waste. Are the kids naked? Of course not, wear the clothes they have.

 

[josh2203]

Because it's an unnecessary expense. In the US or Canada it's not a problem because most have the $ to buy uniforms and the trinkets that go with them. But when you're trying to fund a school and they add money for uniforms it's just a complete waste. Are the kids naked? Of course not, wear the clothes they have.

As I believe I have stated a few times, I'm European, from Scandinavia and I have never in my life used a school uniform, but as our elder son went the first years and to the kindergarten in the DR, we have purchased quite a few pieces of clothing for him, always for private kindergarten/school. I have to say, even though I admit I always feared the day of purchasing the school stuff in August and became very nervous when the cashier clerk was passing our stuff, I'm still with Bob on this one. Why?

1. At least the clothing/shoes we purchased, really was rugged/good quality. It was certainly not cheap, we always paid something completely different than what Bob quoted above (that was for public schools?), more like towards what MariaRubia quoted above, but still, I did like the quality, in particular with shoes.
2. I also agree with Bob on the fact that every kid has the same clothing... It does kind of bring unity to the group there are no questions asked from other classmates.
3. Kids have accidents and they fall to the ground etc in the school while playing etc. Our kids have sustained several scratches while playing soccer or had a "collision" with a fast-moving (strong sarcasm here... no, the tree did not move, but rather the kid was looking backwards or something and hit the tree) tree or another plant at the school playground. The clothing we purchased was rather rugged, and having a few of those, managing the damages of these kinds of accidents was much easier... I repeat, the shoes we were made to purchase were absolutely great in quality. Expensive, yes, but they lasted...

Of course, you can also buy good quality clothes and shoes from any shop and your kid can go to school with those, but it's not the same...

 

[bob saunders]

This article expresses quite well my thoughts on uniforms. https://www.thelocal.se/20220425/school-uniforms-why-the-controvery-sshl-tlccu

 

[La Profe_1]

When my children were 9 and 11 and attending a school that required uniforms, I spent around five hundred dollars on back to school clothing. Granted, that included shoes, socks and underwear, but the cost of the "right" monogrammed sweaters, hats and gloves, purses etc added up very quickly.

This was in a well to do area where the right purse for an eleven year hold was a Pappagallo, ideadly in the same fabric as the uniforms.

Uniforms don't always eliminate competition and jealousy.

For the record, my children were 9 and 11 in 1981. That five hundred was a lot of money then.