Vietnam - Beaten up, student still suspended

A high school in the central province of Ha Tinh has suspended a student for one week after she had been beaten up by her schoolmates.

Le Thi My Duyen, a 10th-grader at Mai Thuc Loan High School in Loc Ha District, has been shocked ever since she was informed of the suspension last Thursday, two days after she had been admitted to a local hospital following the beating.

She has sustained brain injuries since then, according to hospital doctors.

Duyen recalled on her sickbed that she was attacked by a group of students last Tuesday on the way home from school after she had tried to stop some 11th-graders from striking one of her classmates.

Her father Le Huy Hoang said the school then asked him to come to get a formal notice of the suspension while he had expected to receive its condolences instead. Hoang had earlier reported the incident to Mai Thuc Loan together with local authorities and the media.

“The principal told me that I had ruined the school’s reputation by reporting my daughter’s case to the media, so it had to suspend her,” he protested.

Nguyen Cong Huyen, the principal, later told Tuoi Tre that the suspension resulted from Duyen’s violations of the school’s internal regulations, but he failed to point out anything specific.

“We have suspended her simply because she broke our rules,” Huyen explained to local media.

“It is not a sensible thing to suspend the student when she is suffering from such physical injuries,” said Nguyen Quoc Anh, vice director of the Ha Tinh Department of Education and Training.

Local police said they are interrogating one female student who is believed to be involved in Duyen’s beating.

They added it is inadvisable to take any disciplinary action against Duyen when no conclusions related to the case have been reached.

Hoang has lodged an appeal against the suspension to the department, which said it would step in to help settle the problem and keep him informed of any progress.

School violence has recently become a topical issue in Vietnam when videos of student fighting are continually uploaded to the Internet.

TUOI TRE

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