VietNamNet Bridge - Psychologists believe that school violence continues because society doesn’t condemn the behavior. If adults remain silent after seeing students fight, children won’t rise up against violence, they say. 

A video clip on social media showing a female student in Hanoi being beaten by a group of classmates days ago has shocked viewers. 

The attackers and the victim were once close friends at the Truong Yen Secondary School in Chuong My district. The other students stood around and cheered the fighting. Some of them filmed the fight and posted it on the internet.

On August 28, the community was stirred up by a video showing five students beating a seventh grader at Nam Tuan Secondary School in Cao Bang. The schoolboy was sitting passively, receiving hits on the body. One student was seen striking his friend with an iron tube.

On August 26, local newspapers reported that a female student was assaulted by a group of classmates in the rain in Da Nang.

One year ago, Quang Huy, 15, in Yen Bai province committed suicide after a clip showing him being beaten by friends and forced to kneel on the road was posted on the internet. 

The latest report by the Ministry of Education and Training ( MOET) showed that 1,600 cases of students fighting in or outside school occurred in one year.

Also according to the ministry, one case of fighting exists for every 5,200 students, and one out of every 11,000 students are expelled from school because of involvement in fights.

Psychological research on adolescents shows they are not mature enough to distinguish between good and bad and behave without realizing they are committing wrongdoings. More minors are committing crimes. 

Parents tend to blame school violence on unreasonable education. They said the education system in Vietnam, from preschool to university, focuses on providing academic knowledge, but it doesn’t attach much importance to lessons on morality.

Traditional human values of the nation are taught to students through History, Citizen Education, Morality and Literature. However, all the subjects, except Literature, are considered ‘subordinate subjects’, and little time is devoted to study.

Meanwhile, educators blame parents for their children’s indifference to victims of school violence.

“I know that nearly all parents keep silent when seeing a robber. How can they develop their children into good people?” a high school teacher in Hanoi asked.

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