Y was brutally beaten (photo from a clip)

A ninth grade female student at the Phu Ung Secondary School in Hung Yen province was found stripped and brutally beaten by a gang of five classmates days ago.

The assault was so brutal that H. Y, the student, had to be hospitalized for psychological treatment.

The case was so serious that Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha in person came to Hung Yen to work with provincial leaders on the case.

Y’s grandmother, who is taking care of her at Hung Yen Hospital, told the press that she was angry at the violators, but even angrier with Y’s teachers and the school’s management board.

Nha emphasized that this was a heartbreaking incident, and the culprits, school’s management board members and involved individuals must be strictly punished.

Just days after the incident occurred, the provincial education department gathered all local teachers in an online meeting to discuss the problem.

The criticism from the public escalated after witnessing the indifference by the teachers and the school’s management board towards the student.

“I have been bullied for a long time and I made complaints to the head teacher, but the problem was not settled,” Y said.

Y’s grandmother, who is taking care of her at Hung Yen Hospital, told the press that she was angry at the violators, but even angrier with Y’s teachers and the school’s management board.

“The school knew about the bullying, but did not take measures to stop the activities. The teachers did not give warnings and discuss this with us. As a result, this heart-breaking scene has occurred,” she said.

“The bumps and scratches on my grandchild’s body will heal, but I am afraid the wounds in her mind and heart won’t,” she added.

On education forums, parents commented that Y’s teachers and the school’s management board need to ‘search their conscience’.

“Once children fight each other, adults need introspection, because children are the products of education from adults,” a mother in Cau Giay district wrote.

“Instead of cooperating with Y and her family to settle the problem, the school’s board of management and the head teacher tried to hide the truth and did not give true information about the incident to Y’s family,” she wrote. “This is unacceptable behavior for educators.”

Dang Hoa Nam, head of the Children Agency under the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, commented that school violence continues because of the adults’ “achievement disease”.

Teachers tend to conceal school violence cases instead of making them public and seeking support from the public. They fear that the cases will affect their so-called emulation achievements.

Xuan Mai