National Assembly Delegate: School violence has reached a sinister and cruel level

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri said that it is time for relevant agencies to stop being indifferent, school violence must become a big topic, needing immediate discussion to come up with appropriate measures.

The public is shocked by the clip of an eighth-grade student in Lao Cai stabbing a friend multiple times, then pushing him into a lake and leaving; middle school students in Ho Chi Minh City beating a friend, breaking three ribs, right in the school restroom. Previously, at the end of October, an eleventh-grade student in Thanh Hoa stabbed a twelfth-grade student to death. In September, a seventh-grade student in Hanoi assaulted his homeroom teacher. Many opinions say that school violence is increasing in severity.

On the sidelines of the 10th session of the 15th National Assembly , sharing with reporters of VietnamPlus Electronic Newspaper, Professor, Hero of Labor, member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society said he felt very heartbroken.

Cannot continue to be indifferent

- Professor, a series of serious school violence incidents have occurred one after another. As a National Assembly delegate and a former teacher, how do you feel?

Professor Nguyen Anh Tri: I am extremely saddened. This is an issue that has been mentioned many times by National Assembly delegates as school violence is on the rise.

The story now is no longer about school violence but about social violence among school-age children, no longer a rare isolated incident but common, everyday. In the past, we might hear about school violence once every 6 months or a quarter, but now it happens almost every week, even consecutively like these past few days. Not only increasing in quantity, school violence today is also a violent, horrifying act, even deadly, murderous, at a sinister, cruel level.

It is time for relevant agencies to stop being indifferent to this issue. School violence is no longer a matter of petty fights between children. This must become a big, important topic that needs to be discussed immediately in order to come up with appropriate measures.

The cases show that the legal system is probably not deterrent enough and does not have strong enough sanctions to deal with this problem. Therefore, I suggest that there should be immediate seminars and discussions to rebuild a more appropriate legal system.

- Sir, Circular No. 19 Circular No. 19/2025/TT-BGDDT regulating rewards and discipline for students issued by the Ministry of Education and Training will take effect from October 31, 2025, which stipulates that the highest form of discipline applied by schools to students is writing a self-criticism. Although it has come into effect, Circular 19 is still facing many opposing opinions, many of which believe that writing a self-criticism alone is not enough of a deterrent. What is your opinion on this issue?

Professor Nguyen Anh Tri: At the recent National Assembly discussion on socio-economic issues, many delegates mentioned this issue. Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long said that the removal of the disciplinary form of temporary suspension from school for students is aimed at not interrupting their studies. National Assembly delegates did not oppose writing self-criticism, but writing self-criticism only stopped at mistakes such as being late to school many times, talking privately in class many times, cheating on assignments, etc.

But when there is a bigger issue like bringing a knife into the classroom, threatening a friend with a weapon, assaulting a teacher, beating a friend violently… how can we just use the form of writing a self-criticism? Writing a self-criticism only stops at one level; mistakes that can threaten the safety of others need to have a more severe form of discipline.

The situation of students beating each other up is happening in many localities, causing outrage in society. (Photo cut from clip)

Just like when a child is sick, parents must let them stay home from school until they are well before sending them back to school so that they can be healthy. With many illnesses, staying home from school is also to avoid spreading the disease and not affect the health of teachers and other students.

A student with an aggressive personality is also a kind of “disease”. Those students are probably mostly not interested in studying. For those students, the most important thing is to “cure” them to become a good person before learning to read and write. They can stop studying for a week, a month, or even a few years, they can not finish grade 12, but we still have a human being. If they continue to finish grade 12, even go to university and higher, but are cruel, then they are even more dangerous to society.

A sick student only affects his own health, but an aggressive student affects the health, life, and spirit of the entire class, the entire school, and the teachers. I think that the regulation of only writing a self-criticism to avoid interrupting the student's learning is not appropriate because it does not help the student improve, and it is not from the perspective of ensuring the rights of other students, teachers, and society.

When there is an aggressive student in the class, the whole class will not want to study with that student, and will not feel secure in each lesson. A teacher who is assaulted will find it very difficult to return to teaching normally due to severe psychological and mental trauma. Why do we not pay attention to the right to not interrupt learning, the right to teach and learn normally of other students and teachers, but only pay attention to not interrupting a student who does not want to study?

We have not yet considered the rights of children who are victims of violence. I once knew a student who was abused by his classmates for 3 years. The physical wounds may heal, but the psychological trauma will follow them throughout their lives, greatly affecting their future. Meanwhile, students who commit mistakes when punished by writing self-criticisms hold them up high as a trophy, without any remorse.

Once the legal regulations still tolerate evil, it is not humane but makes bad and evil develop more, and that is an incorrect regulation, inhumane.

It is necessary to perfect legal regulations with sufficient deterrence.

- The Ministry of Education and Training said that for more serious violations, there are legal regulations and students will be disciplined according to these regulations, professor?

Professor Nguyen Anh Tri : We have the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, and in 2024 there will be a very good law called the Juvenile Justice Law. Humanitarian issues have been carefully considered in this law, reflected in the penalties for each age group.

However, there are two problems here. Firstly, I suggest that Circular 19 should have a statement on this issue, clearly stating that serious violations will be handled in accordance with current law so that students understand that not all violations will be punished with a written self-criticism. When students have the default mindset that no matter how serious the violation is, they will only write a self-criticism, evil will prevail.

Second, it is necessary to clarify which violations will be punished by writing a self-criticism, and whether there is a gap between violations that are punished by writing a self-criticism and those that are handled under current laws. If so, we must fill that gap with appropriate sanctions.

- There are opinions that the increasing number and severity of school violence shows that education on ideology, ethics and lifestyle has not received due attention. What do you think about this?

Professor Nguyen Anh Tri: It can be said that ideological, moral and lifestyle education for students has not only not received due attention but has also not been effectively implemented in practice. There was even an opinion that proposed to remove the slogan "first learn manners, then learn literature", I think that is a very anti-educational opinion.

We educate students not only to be able to solve math problems or be good at computers, but also to teach them about humanity, so that first of all they become good people, good citizens. A good but evil person not only does not contribute anything to the country but is also a danger to society.

Thank you very much, professor!

Source: VNP

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-bao-luc-hoc-duong-da-den-muc-nham-hiem-doc-ac-20251107084323791.htm