Donated school uniforms must not be sold

Santo Domingo.- In response to complaints from parentsthat individuals have been selling donated school uniforms, the director of theNational Student Welfare Institute (Inabie) René Jáquez, warned that anyteacher found engaging in this practice could be penalized and the suppliers inquestion would be removed from the process.

Mothers of students at the Ramón Emilio Jiménez HighSchool in Santo Domingo East reported that pants, shirts and sports-t shirtswere being sold.

Jáquez said that they are investigating the case ofsome uniforms that had been rejected by Inabie due to poor quality and the wrongcolors. They are believed to have ended up on the market with the Ministry ofEducation labels.

“The uniforms that Student Welfare distributes arefree of charge and no school principal has any right to sell them,” statedJáquez, after pointing out that the authorities had not yet delivered the uniformsto the Ramón Emilio Jiménez High School. He said that uniforms would bedistributed in Azua and the Cibao region as of 4 September.

He said that they expect to reach the whole country withinthree weeks, because they had experienced delays in transporting uniforms,shoes and backpacks.