Another child abuse case has been discovered at the Phan Chu Trinh Primary School in Tan Phu district of HCM City. Once again, the idea of installing cameras in classrooms has been mentioned as a solution to prevent child abuse.

The Phan Chu Trinh Primary School has cameras installed at the entrance door and corridors, but there is no camera in each classroom. The child abuse case was discovered thanks to the camera that parents secretly installed in the classroom.

In HCM City, cameras are not installed except at some private schools which install cameras as per agreement with parents, while state-owned schools don’t have cameras because it is not mandatory.

In the 2018-2019 academic year, the city piloted the installation of cameras at some preschools in districts 1, 12 and Hoc Mon, and plans to install cameras in other districts in the 2019-2020 academic year.

In the 2018-2019 academic year, the city piloted the installation of cameras at some preschools in districts 1, 12 and Hoc Mon, and plans to install cameras in other districts in the 2019-2020 academic year.

However, the idea has been facing strong opposition from teachers.

The HCM City Education and Training Department has consulted with parents and teachers on the plan to install cameras. Eighty eight percent of parents in three surveyed districts believe that installing cameras is a necessity, while 52 percent of teachers disagree, saying that this violates their privacy.

Meanwhile, 72.2 percent of teachers oppose the idea of installing cameras just to help the school management board to supervise teachers’ and students’ activities, saying that they don't like being supervised and feel worried.

According to the HCM City Education and Training, installing cameras in classrooms does not aim to allow parents to supervise teachers’ activities. The major purpose is allowing headmasters of schools to supervise education activities, address problems quickly and provide evidence when incidents occur.

According to Khuu Manh Hung, head of the district 12’s education and training sub-department, the program on installing cameras has been applied for one year and all preschools in district, from private to state owned, now have cameras. However, it is difficult to install cameras at primary schools because of the problems related to children’s rights and people’s privacy.

Nguyen Thanh Van, head of the district 10 education and training sub-department, also said the agency encourages schools to install cameras at the school entrance gate and corridors for security purposes.

Meanwhile, installing cameras in classrooms cannot be implemented because of the opposition by teachers. Some parents also protest against the plan as they fear that images of their children may be disseminated for wrong purposes.

Thanh Lich 

To prevent school abuse, teachers told to stop demanding passive obedience from students

Psychologists point out that obedience teaching will put students at a disadvantage in school abuse cases.