VietNamNet Bridge - A new regulation prohibits romantic relationships between teachers and students is prohibited at American Polytechnic College in HCM City. 

Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan Kiet, rector of the school, who issued the decision, believes this was a correct decision to ensure transparency and fairness in the school environment.

Kiet said that the enforcement would be supervised through a public monitoring system and cooperation from students and teachers. 

The lecturers of the school have been requested not to have lunch, dinner or meetings with students. When they receive students at the office, they need to keep the doors open.

Kiet said the school was determined to implement the regulation.

“If we discover any love case, no matter if it is real love or just ‘exchange love for marks’ affair, we will dismiss the teachers,” he said.

The decision, which sounds “abnormal” in the eyes of Vietnamese students, has raised curiosity about the head of the college.

Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan Kiet graduated from Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea and worked for the French Atomic Energy Institute for years before he returned to Vietnam and worked at the vocational college.

Kiet said that the regulation was set up based on the important principle being pursued by western education that there must be a safe and fair environment at schools.

Harvard University in early 2015 also adopted a ban on professors' having sexual or romantic relationships with undergraduate students.

HCM City’s American Polytechnic College’s ban was opposed by many youth. 

Zing.vn included a comment from Dang Truc, a reader, who said that she witnessed some beautiful romantic relations between her friends and teachers who later married.

“I saw them helping each other in their work and lives, and all of them received promotions in their jobs. I cannot see any bad things in their relations,” Truc said.

One student said that she fell in love with a lecturer at the school where she is studying. 

“I believe I have the right to love anyone who is single,” she wrote. 

The female student, who said she is a law student, said that there was no law in the world or in Vietnam that bans professor-student romantic relations.

She also said she does not believe the regulation can be respected in reality, because no one can supervise all the teachers’ and students’ activities at school and after school hours.

Meanwhile, many educators, especially those who received education from western schools, have voiced their support for the ban. 

A lecturer at Hanoi National University noted that the ban is being applied by a small number of schools, but it is a growing tendency worldwide.

Thanh Mai