Still worried about school violence

Image of two female students in Phu Tho fighting and a female student's family beating the student. Photo cut from clip.

Painful problem

On March 14, a clip appeared on social media recording a scene of a female student grabbing her friend’s hair and repeatedly hitting her in the face… right in the classroom, witnessed and cheered by her friends. The leader of the People’s Committee of Vinh Chau town, Soc Trang province confirmed to the press, “this unfortunate incident occurred in class 6A9, Chau Van Do Secondary School.”

According to the report of the Principal of Chau Van Do Secondary School, the incident occurred because a female student broke her friend's lipstick. When the two students fought, their classmates witnessed it and did not intervene, including 2 students who filmed and recorded the images with their phones.

Previously, a video recording a scene of a female student beating her friend in the schoolyard was also spread. According to the clip, a female student wearing a uniform pushed her friend in a white shirt to the ground, using a helmet to continuously hit her on the head and face. A male student who tried to intervene was also grabbed by three other female students and could not approach. It is known that the two female students in the clip are students of My Van High School, Tam Nong District, Phu Tho Province.

Mr. Ta Duy Kien - Principal of My Van High School said: The school has made a record and asked the homeroom teacher to investigate the cause of the incident. According to initial information, the two students had a personal conflict. The school reported to Lam Son Commune Police and Tam Nong District Police to coordinate the investigation to have accurate information. At the same time, invite parents, students, and homeroom teachers to work; send a report, ask for direction from Tam Nong District People's Committee and Phu Tho Department of Education and Training to have a form of handling the violating students.

According to psychologist Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam, school violence can cause psychological damage to both the bully and the bullied. When the impact is prolonged, it will lead to undesirable consequences. Students are at an age of change both physically and psychologically, so their perception is unstable and disturbed by many influences from the surrounding environment.

If adults do not guide and help children control their emotions and thoughts correctly, problems will arise, including violence. “We cannot only focus on fully meeting immediate needs, which are material needs, but we also have to let children see their human and intellectual values in front of their friends, family and society. Then, they will have the need to develop properly and in the right direction,” said Mr. Lam.

How to prevent?

Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam commented that education in general and school violence prevention in particular need to adhere to "3 principles" including: psychology, management and law.

Education needs to be appropriate to the psychology of students of each age, each level of education, and appropriate to each school and each locality. Schools need to seriously incorporate education on life values (values of love, respect, forgiveness, learning from experience, taking responsibility, etc.) and life skills (communication, persuasion, negotiation, reconciliation, etc.) into the official curriculum.

Lessons on life values and life skills can pose many situations for students to experience and know how to solve problems when they arise. Along with that, students need to be educated in revolutionary ideals, life aspirations, and building a culture of self-development.

Regarding school management, it is necessary to promote discipline, teachers must be teachers, students must be students, people must be clear, work must be clear, responsibilities must be clear, especially the responsibility of the leader. In management, it is necessary to promote the role of homeroom teachers, support forces, and supervisors to promptly detect and ensure school security and safety.

The third very important factor is the law. In cases of school violence, students are not only wrong but also break the law. If they commit illegal acts, they must face the provisions of the law.

Also on this issue, Dr. Bui Hong Quan - lecturer of the Department of Psychology (Ho Chi Minh City University of Education) said: The criteria for Happy Schools in educational institutions in Ho Chi Minh City has an important criterion, "friendship and positive relationships in schools based on the foundation of trust, tolerance, and fairness".

When you have a beautiful friendship, then surely every day going to class to see your friend will be a happy, joyful day. Surely, if you have a beautiful friendship, there will be no basis for school violence to arise. And violence will not happen if you behave properly when there are differences in thinking with others. When conflicts or differences in thinking occur, you can choose to resolve them by exchanging, discussing, or informing teachers or adults, but not choosing a solution through violence. At that time, violence will not have a chance to happen.

MSc. Nguyen Viet Hien - lecturer at the University of Education (Hanoi National University) expressed his opinion: To build a happy school, without school violence, the position of school psychologist in schools is very necessary. In Circular 31/2017/TT-BGDDT on Guidelines for implementing psychological counseling for students in general schools, it sets out general regulations, content and form of implementing psychological counseling, conditions to ensure the implementation of psychological counseling for students and organization of implementation.

Well-trained staff will have enough professional knowledge to support students; dedicated to their work to promptly detect and support children in need, at the same time they also implement prevention programs, build support networks, connect stakeholders to best support children.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training also issued Circular 20 of 2023 replacing Circular 16 of 2017 providing guidance on job positions, job title structure, and quotas for the number of employees in general education institutions. Each school, from primary to high school, is assigned 1 person to the student counseling position. In case it is not possible to arrange a staff, a labor contract will be signed or a part-time teacher will be assigned.

In the context of increasingly complex student psychological issues, a series of school violence cases occurring across the country causing public outrage, the need for student counselors is becoming more urgent. Hopefully, in the near future, when psychological support channels in schools are implemented systematically, negative issues in schools will be reduced. This is also the first time that public schools in Vietnam have psychological counselors for students.

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