Deputy headmaster of Luong The Vinh School Van Thuy Duong

Huong Giang, the parent, enrolled her daughter in Luong The Vinh, a private school in Hanoi, even though the girl had exam scores that were high enough to apply to Viet Duc, a prestigious state-owned school. 

Luong The Vinh sets ‘reasonable’ tuition levels and has a good reputation: the number of students passing the exams to university is always very high.

However, Giang discovered that her daughter regularly returns home in a mood of sadness and anxiety.

“Parents were constantly requested to come to see the teachers, and students had to write reports admitting their mistakes and bear punishment,” Giang said.

Students were punished if they chatted during the lessons, did not do home exercises, came to school late, did not take notes in their notebooks or because their clothes and hair were not orderly. They were overloaded with ‘mountains of exercises’.

The parent went on to say that she attended three parents’ meetings and ‘never saw a smile on the teacher’s lips’. She later found that Thu, the teacher at Luong The Vinh School, also worked for a state-owned school in Ba Dinh district.

“Parents were surprised that the first private school in Hanoi did not have adequate teaching staff and had to use visiting teachers,” she said.

After realizing the problems the daughter was facing, she wrote a letter to Van Thuy Duong, deputy headmaster of the school, asking for another teacher.

However, the request was refused. Duong told the parent that the school had not forced students to study at Luong The Vinh and that the student could move to another school.

Only 13 out of 37 students said in a poll they wanted to change the head teacher, so, Thu remained the head teacher of the class. 

Meanwhile, Duong told VietNamNet that the parents she spoke with said they were satisfied with the teacher and didn’t want another. 

She also said the school has made the final decision after checking information. In principle, students can leave the school if they and the school do not share the same education views.

Thu, who has been working as a teacher for 20 years, said that asking students to write reports and promise not to repeat mistakes, or force them to do community service are common punishments which help students recognize their mistakes and become better.

“I felt sad that the education method followed by me and Luong The Vinh School was criticized as severe,” she said. 

RELATED NEWS

Are Vietnamese students too "excellent"?

Hanoi vows to develop high-quality, state-owned schools