LookAtVietnam – Educators have rung alarm bells over school violence,warning that today’s “gusts of wind” may create strong storms tomorrow.

Juvenile criminals

In HCM City, a group of 7^th grade girls at Chu Van An Secondary School snatched the hair of a classmate and threatened her with razor blade, while other students stood watching and videoed the action with their cell phones.

In another case, two male students of Tan Binh School in HCM City, who had previous disagreements, met each other on campus after school. One student stabbed the other in the chest with a knife. The student died.

Do Duy Bao, a Tan Binh teacher, commented that the school prohibits weapons, but teachers cannot examine the schoolbags of every student each day. If they do this, it will cause dissatisfaction among the students.

In Hanoi, the murder of a male student at Dai Mo High School occurred because of a minor disagreement between students of two different classes.

The issue escalated when students of one class gathered 10 more friends to “take revenge” on the other. One of the students died on the way to the hospital due to his serious injuries.

Families and schools need to join forces

Do Thi Hai, MA, Deputy Head of the Environment and Social Affairs Research Institute, blames school violence on students’ lack of living skills.

A survey of 1000 students showed that 95 percent do not have life skills, 77.7 percent of students have never been educated about living skills and 76.4 percent need life skills training and get embarrassed dealing with problems they meet in their lives.

Former Deputy Director of the HCM City Education and Training Department, Nguyen Van Ngai, maintains that parents need to keep closer watch to discover early on any conflicts that may lead to violence. The department has also asked schools to foster the teaching of morality.

Dr. Huynh Van Son from the HCM City University of Education suggests that minimizing school violence must be done in consultation with psychologists, who can help harmonize young people’s development.

While severe punishments have been urged, educators stress that the punishments must be reasonable so that students have a chance to mend their ways.

According to Professor Van Nhu Cuong, a famous educator, teachers strongly protest school expulsion as a punishment, because this means that schools will throw “bad eggs” into society.

VietNamNet/LD