Vietnamese education system reeling from corporal punishment cases

Several cases of inappropriate behavior by Vietnamese teachers have been reported in the media. Incidents have involved teachers slapping, hitting and beating students, sometimes to the point of hospitalization, according to VietNamNet Bridge.

“Nguyen Van Hao, grandfather of Nguyen Minh Hai, one of the victims, said that some of the schoolboys were hit so hard that their noses bled; Hieu’s face severely swelled,” the article reported.

According to the article: “Another case, Pham Phuong Thao, an eight-year-old schoolgirl at Trung Vuong Primary School in Hanoi was beaten for a simple mistake. On November 29, in response to Thao forgetting a capital letter, teacher Pham Quynh Anh lashed Thao’s hands with her ruler and then slapped her.”

“On April 23, Tran Thi Ngoc, a 4^th grader at Minh Quang Primary School in Thai Binh province was forced to stand in the middle of the classroom while her 32 classmates lashed her about the face; her error: Ngoc forgot bringing the class’s record book,” the article said. “She was hospitalized.”

Analysts are linking the teachers’ behavior to substandard qualifications and wages. “With low pay (VND1mil for pre-school teachers, for example), an insufficient wage, teachers often express their career dissatisfaction in the form of rage towards pupils,” the article said. “Under current regulations, pre-school teachers must have at least a two year post-secondary education; however, only 80% of the current 166,804 teachers meet that requirement.

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