More girls fall victim to bullying at schools in Vietnam

Sunday, October 23, 2022, 10:25 GMT+7 / Source: https://tuoitrenews.vn/

By Kim Thoa - Le Minh, Tuoi Tre News

Students in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam attend an event on 'saying no' to bullying at school. Photo: L.M. / Tuoi Tre

When it comes to bullying in schools in Vietnam, many immediately think of conflict and fights by male students. However, in many current cases of bullying, the bullies are females.

Due to some trivial disagreements, some students asked their friends to form a group to fight their hated friends.

These groups found ways to humiliate and, in some cases, even kill their 'rivals.'

Three days after the event, local people were still shocked by the death of N.T.Th., a 12th-grade student of Ly Chinh Thang High School in Huong Son District, Ha Tinh Province. 

On the afternoon of October 11, Th. was seriously injured and killed by P.Q.M., another 11th-grade student of the victim's high school, on a deserted path in An Hoa Thinh Commune, Huong Son District.

Although he was immediately taken to the emergency room, Th. died on the way to the hospital.

A counseling session is held at a school in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam to provide students with psychological knowledge to tackle bullying at school. Photo: L.M. / Tuoi Tre

According to a preliminary investigation, there had been a quarrel between Th. and M. earlier.

On the morning of October 11, before going to school, M. prepared a knife and hid it in his schoolbag.

On the way home from school that day, Th. and his group of friends blocked M. and beat him on the deserted road.

When Th. hurried to hit M., the latter stabbed the former in the back with the knife, causing him to die on the spot.

On August 8, C.T.T.H., a 16-year-old schoolgirl punched B.T.B.H., another 15-year-old student in Huong Son District, and cut her clothes with scissors over a personal quarrel.

In early September, N.T.T.T., an 8th-grade student living in Thach Ha City, Ha Tinh was bullied. When the student was at home, a group of her schoolmates came to drive her to a deserted area.

There, the group of students stormed up to T., grabbed her cellphone, and continuously punched her in the face and head.

Both instances were recorded and then posted on social media, drawing the ire of online viewers.

The most striking aspect of the posted videos is that none of the many onlookers in the area intended to intervene when the altercations occurred.

A student is beaten and humiliated by her schoolmates. This screenshot comes from a clip that recently went viral on the Internet.

Nguyen Hong Cuong, deputy director of the Ha Tinh Department of Education and Training, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that there have been some violent attacks on students since the beginning of the 2022-23 school year in the province.

Among them is the most serious case of a male student who was killed with a knife.

In the recent cases of bullying at school, there are signs that the number of female students involved is increasing.

"As for the high school brawls, in addition to the responsibility of the combatants before the law, the school administrators are also to blame," Cuong said.

"The leaders of these schools were not good at education management, as they did not closely observe the psychology, emotions, and characteristics of their students to take timely and appropriate action."

To curb the number of bullying victims, Cuong said, the Ha Tinh Department of Education and Training will work with relevant departments and sections in the near future to provide students with information and knowledge about anti-bullying laws in school. 

Besides, events would be held for teachers and students to sign commitments to prevent such bullying, Cuong added.