Supermarket giant Tesco has been criticised for its school sports equipment initiative after it emerged that parents, teachers, and pupils would have to spend around £1million before their school gained enough vouchers to receive one.
The state of-the-art £3,000 zinc and steel trampoline is advertised in the Tesco’s Sports for Schools and Clubs equipment catalogue, where it is available in exchange for 99,990 vouchers .
The supermarket leaders admitted that, to date, no school or club had purchased the trampoline through the scheme, although the company has given away 200 less expensive trampolines to schools last year.
Critics say it this scheme highlights how difficult schools find it to collect substantial pieces of equipment.
But Tesco has responded by claiming that its voucher scheme has produced real rewards for cash-strapped schools and that during 2006 they gave away nearly £12million worth of sports equipment and kit.
A company spokesman said, “This is a something for nothing initiative which has given hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of kit and equipment to schools which the local authorities and government aren’t paying for. It’s kit that these schools would not otherwise have.”
Although the retailer could not calculate the time it would take for a school to collect the 99,990 vouchers, the spokesman pointed out that schools could bank their vouchers, saving them from year to year.
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