Many student abuse cases have been reported in recent months. However, experts believe that the reported cases are just the ‘tip of the iceberg’, while many other cases have never been brought to light, and the abusers have not been punished.

Secondary school students

A high school teacher in Hanoi commented that parents hide information and are uncooperative with the police.

A niece of a teacher was the victim of a lewd act by a neighbor when she was 9 years old. The father of the girl vowed to denounce the neighbor of committing lewd act. However, he later gave up the intention after his wife warned that the girl would not have a bright future and she may be ‘left on the shelf’ because men will refuse abused girls.

“Parents are afraid of their reputation, appropriate agencies are irresponsible and indifferent to children’s feelings, and schools fear a bad reputation. All these factors explain why many cases of student abuse cannot come to light,” he said.

The teacher stressed that the father of the girl, his elder brother, has a bachelor’s degree, while his wife has master’s degree.

The participants at a workshop on school violence held by Tien Phong newspaper several days ago all affirmed that school violence keeps escalating not because of the lack of a legal framework, but because of people’s indifference to bad habits and wrongdoing.

Pham Anh Thang, chief representative of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) in HCMC, commented that school violence is getting worse. In the past, students bullied and beat others, but now, they fight each other, shoot films, take pictures and post clips on internet.

The most serious characteristic of many school violence cases that occurred recently is that no one came forward and stopped the fight. Experts warned that students now are “soulless”, which is the result of education which only focuses on providing knowledge and ignoring morality lessons.

Phan Thi Hoai Yen, a psychologist, commented that adults are at fault in the escalation of student abuse.

She said in many cases, victims of student abuse cases unwillingly become ‘famous’ because their names appear in many newspapers.

“I am sure students don’t need just compassion from adults. They need psychological support to overcome their problems,” she said, adding that people with sexual misconduct also need psychological support.

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