VietNamNet Bridge – The number of students expelled from schools or suspended for one year has been increasing rapidly. This, in the eyes of experts, is an alarming problem.

The list of suspended students of the Van Tao High School

Under the current regulation, headmasters of schools have the right to suspend the study of students for one year. This is the heaviest punishment at general schools.

The news about the suspension of students nowadays does not surprise the people in Van Tao commune in Thuong Tin district of Hanoi any more. The Van Tao High School Board of Management every year signed the decision to suspend the study of a series of students for one week or one year. Some students, after experiencing the “suspension period” had to move to other schools or give up school for ever.

In the first semester of the 2012-2013 academic year alone, nearly 40 students were disciplined by the school, many of them were expelled from school, according to a teacher of the Van Tao School.

The mother of Bui Van N, one of the students who have just been expelled from school, complained that she is afraid N would become a naughty boy if he cannot continue going to school.

“His brother is a drug addict, and I am now afraid that N would follow his brother’s step,” he complained.

The problem was that N’s mother did not hear anything about the problem of N until the she was informed about the school’s decision to expel N.

When asked what N would do in the time to come, he simply said he would stay at home, because he still doesn’t know what he should do.

The decision to suspend N for one year was signed by the school’s board of management was signed on December 24, 2012, which said that N violated two mistakes – using mobile phones during the lesson hours and had impolite behaviors to the teachers.

Nguyen Van Bien, the physical exercise teacher of N, said N made mistake in his lesson. N swore before the class when the teacher blamed him for not wearing uniform.

However, Bien said he had not known about the punishment on N until the final decision was made, because he was not consulted on the issue.

In 2010, the My Duc C High School in Ha Dong district suspended 11 students just for “passing water improperly”.

In 2012, the Ha Long High School for the Gifted, suspended three female students. One of them was asked to forward the “challenge” to another, but she did not report about the case to the school, but forwarded the challenge directly to the other. The punishment on the student was too heavy for the student.

A female student of the Le Quy Don High School in Ha Dong district was heavily disciplined in 2012 because she showed a classmate up in the public. Most recently, a student in Quang Nam province, who insulted teacher on Facebook, was also proposed to be expelled from school.

The treatment in the cases has raised controversy among the public. Some believe that no one can dispose of the students’ right of going to school. Meanwhile, others believe that they need to be heavily punished, and that schools must not be the place for naughty students.

However, once the students are expelled from school, they would not have the chance to continue their study, and the opportunities to improve themselves to become good citizens to the society. Therefore, experts have voiced their concern about the “movement” of expelling students from school, suggesting to amend the current regulations to ensure students’ interests.

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