Dinh Bang My, principal of the Thanh Son district Ethnic Minority Boarding School

1. On November 25, a sixth grader in Quang Binh was hospitalized after receiving 231 slaps on his face. 

His teacher told his 23 classmates in the class to give 10 slaps each on his face, while the teacher gave the last slap.

The teacher explained that she lost temper because the boy had a foul mouth. However, the explanation did not appease the uproar among the public, especially when 10 other students were found receiving 901 slaps as per the teacher’s instruction.

2. In March, local newspapers reported that a teacher at Binh Chanh Primary School in Long An province had to kneel to parents to ask for their forgiveness.

The teacher had forced students to kneel in the class for mistakes they had made. After hearing about the punishment, parents got angry, criticized the teacher severely, and forced her to kneel.

Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha showed strong protest against the parents’ behavior and asked local authorities to protect the honor and prestige of teachers.

3. Tran Thi Minh Chau, a teacher at Long Thoi High School in HCMC, was silent for four months long when teaching students.

In class, the wrote lessons on the blackboard and students sat in the classroom and wrote in their notebooks.The school’s management did not know about the problem until a student complained about it and burst into regards. 

4. On December 15, the Phu Tho provincial police arrested Dinh Bang My, principal of the Thanh Son District Ethnic Minority Boarding School. He was accused of sexual abuse of male students aged below 16.

My is reported having performed lewd acts in his office. Students said the principal often called male students into his room during school hours and carried out sexual acts, then told students not to report about it to anyone, or they would be expelled from school.

5. Exam cheating at the 2018 national high school finals.

After the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) made public students’ exam scores on July 11, people discovered that the numbers of excellent students were abnormally high in Ha Giang, Son La and Hoa Binh.

Both MOET and Ministry of Public Security sent staff to the localities to clarify the problems. As many as 330 exam papers were found ‘manipulated’. In Son La and Hoa Binh, the police found signs of intervention in exam papers.

Ten education officials were prosecuted, including the Son La Education Department’s deputy director.

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Thanh Lich