VietNamNet Bridge - A teacher in Binh Dinh province has reportedly forced a student to lie face up on the podium and poured water in the student’s mouth. He also beat students and slapped them on the face.

At the FPT University

This allegedly happened at the Cat Tai Secondary school in Phu Cat district of Binh Dinh province. The teacher was Nguyen Minh De.

Luu The P, the student, was punished by the teacher because he asked his classmates not to make noise during a lesson. The teacher believed that P was not in the right position to ask students to keep silent, because P was not the monitor of the class.

Students of 7A3 Class complained that many other students in the class were ‘tortured’ by De. 

Nguyen Le Gia B, another student, when paying money for private tutoring lessons, told the teacher had to pay her back VND10,000 and she received a ruler on the head.

The other students received similar punishments because they either sat on the wrong seats reserved for them, or they opened a lesson diary book.

“The rod is never an effective education method,” Vu Thu Huong, Hanoi University of Education

Dr Vu Thu Huong, lecturer of the Primary Education Faculty of the Hanoi University of Education, said this was ‘unacceptable’ behavior for a teacher.

Huong commented that teachers nowadays tend to become ‘jailers’.

“In the past, Vietnamese scholars always forced students to lie face down and lashed on the buttucks when students made mistakes. But nowadays, this is behavior that violates human rights as stipulated in laws,” she said.

The behavior not only violates laws, but is also described as ‘anti-scientific’ because it will harm students.

“Teachers may think that punishment will make students more obedient. Students will do what they are told to do and keep silent before teachers. But they do that just because they cannot be against teachers who have ‘bigger power’ than them,” Huong said.

“The rod is never an effective education method,” she said. “Students will no longer come to meet teachers and ask for teachers’ advice when they have problems.”

“The children who bear punishments would be hurt mentally,” she warned. “Many children have been found suffering from depression just because of unreasonable behaviour towards them by teachers and parents.”

Van Nhu Cuong, headmaster of Luong The Vinh High School, said: “The punishment must be immediately eliminated from the schooling environment. It is anti-scientific and seriously violate children’s rights.”

Meanwhile, Nguyen Tung Lam, chair of the Hanoi Pedagogical Psychology Association, said that when teachers decide to ‘teach’ students with the rod it shows a ‘defeat’ in their career.


CV