School Violence – Part 1: Shocking cases of physical violence

In mid-May 2023, the police were still investigating the case of two students from Bac Yen Thanh High School, Yen Thanh District, beating four 8th grade students from Phuc Thanh Secondary School. The incident was discovered from a 3-minute clip posted on Facebook, recording two female students from Bac Yen Thanh High School brutally beating the middle school students. At this time, many other students were standing around cheering, no one intervened and even took out their phones to record the clip. After the incident stopped, a high school female student took her motorbike and left, while the other female students continued to make challenging statements.

Mr. Nguyen Tuan Nga - Principal of Phuc Thanh Secondary School confirmed that the images in the clip are 4 8th grade students of the school. The two female students who beat them are students of Bac Yen Thanh High School. According to Mr. Nga, after the incident, the school reported the incident to the Department of Education and Training of Yen Thanh district. "The initial cause was determined to be due to the students having conflicts with each other on social networks. The time of the incident was late afternoon when the students were coming home from school. That day, the students made an appointment to meet at the gate of a resident's house, not at school. Currently, the police are investigating and verifying the incident," Mr. Nga added.

Tranh minh họa: Tư liệu
Illustration: Source

In Yen Thanh district, a similar incident occurred not long ago. Accordingly, just because of a small conflict, a 14-year-old female student of Ma Thanh Secondary School was severely beaten by 2 other female students, even stripped of all her clothes. The beating process was also recorded and then gleefully posted on Facebook to show off her "achievement". The incident caused the victim to suffer severe psychological effects because she was ashamed in front of her friends.

In February 2023, just because of a comment on Facebook by a 7th grade female student of Tien Thuy Secondary School (Quynh Luu), a group of 3 female students of Quynh Phuong Secondary School (Hoang Mai town) traveled 20km to the school and dragged her to the sea dike area in Quynh Nghia commune to beat her. The female students also recorded a clip of the fight to post on Facebook. The content of the clip shows that the 7th grade female student was brutally beaten and stripped by her friends, despite the victim's pleas.

Most recently, on the evening of May 13, 2023, a clip appeared on social media of a group of students beating a small female student. In this clip, a group of male and female students repeatedly grabbed the hair and beat another female student, causing her to hold her head and endure the beating.

Đăng clip đánh bạn lên Facebook để khoe “chiến tích”. Hình ảnh minh họa: Tư liệu
Posting a clip of beating a friend on Facebook to show off his "achievement". Illustration: Document

Teacher Ha Le Hoa Binh - Principal of Ha Huy Tap Secondary School, Vinh City said that the content of the above video clip happened at the school. "The incident happened about 3 months ago. Immediately after the incident, the school investigated and found out that the group of students in the clip beating their friend included 4 students of the school, and 1 other student from Quang Trung Ward. The beaten female student is in grade 7 at Ha Huy Tap Secondary School", said Ms. Ha Le Hoa Binh.

The school, together with the homeroom teacher, worked with the beaten female student and her family, encouraging and taking measures to protect her. For the students who participated in beating their friend, the school also met, reminded, and coordinated with their families to educate them. Both sides wrote a commitment not to repeat the offense. However, for unknown reasons, after a period of temporary silence, the clip of the beating was released again, causing teachers and students to worry.

More than a year has passed, but the people of the border district of Ky Son are still shocked when recalling the murder that happened in the dormitory of Tay Son Ethnic Boarding Secondary School. Just because of a drinking party between Mong male students, it left serious consequences. One lost his life, another had to pay for his crime with days in prison and remorse.

Vu Ba Gia is a 9th grade student at Tay Son Ethnic Boarding Primary School. Due to difficult family circumstances, Gia's parents had to move to Binh Phuoc to work in rubber forests. Therefore, Gia had to become the family's breadwinner, taking care of his two younger siblings. Despite the hardships of life, teachers assessed Gia as a good student with good academic performance. Until one day, everyone was shocked to hear that he had committed a crime.

Accordingly, on the evening of March 21, 2022, while Gia was drinking with a group of friends, another friend ran up and invited him to beat Lau Ba T. (born in 2004, a 12th grade student at another school). The reason was that before that, there was a conflict between the two. Although Gia had no conflict with T., he agreed to join the fight. Carrying a knife, when he arrived at the school's dormitory, Gia slapped T. in the face. The group of friends who went with him also rushed to beat T. After being beaten, the victim ran away but was still chased and stopped by Gia, who slashed him many times in the head. After 4 days of treatment, the victim died. Vu Ba Gia was quickly arrested.

Vừ Bá Già lĩnh án 6 năm tù.
Vu Ba Gia was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

When he regained consciousness, Gia said that there was no conflict between him and the victim. However, because he listened to his friend's advice and was drunk that day, he could not control his actions. At the trial that opened shortly after, Gia repeatedly apologized to the victim's family, the school and his relatives. Because he confessed honestly, repented, and influenced the family to compensate the victim for all losses, and the victim's family filed a petition for a reduced sentence for the defendant, the court sentenced Vu Ba Gia to 6 years in prison for murder. As for the group of friends who participated in the beating with Gia, although there were signs of the crime of disturbing public order, at the time of the crime, they were only over 14 years old and therefore were not prosecuted.

After this heartbreaking incident, the school admitted part of its responsibility for not strictly managing students in the dormitory, allowing strangers to enter. After the incident, the school organized boarding more strictly; at the same time, it increased legal propaganda for students. The school also shared some of the specific difficulties of students in the highlands such as early marriage and alcohol use. Faced with this situation, the school took many measures such as asking the police to propagate and intervene, but unfortunately, the heartbreaking incident still occurred.

Tranh minh họa: Tư liệu
Illustration: Source

Not only with male students, violence between female students also often occurs in boarding areas. On October 25, 2022, on Facebook, 2 clips of 2 cases of female secondary school students fighting each other appeared, both involving female students staying at Thong Thu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Que Phong).

In the clip, a female student sits on a dormitory bed while a group of about four other female students continuously curse in Thai. After cursing, the group of female students take turns slapping the victim repeatedly in the face. Principal Hoang Van Thanh confirmed that this clip was filmed in the dormitory of Thong Thu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities. The female student who was beaten in the clip is in 7th grade. According to Mr. Thanh, the cause of the fight was that the 7th grade female student took the shirt of another student to wear without permission, so she was beaten by a group of female students in the dormitory. "We invited the parents to work on that incident and disciplined the students involved," Mr. Thanh said.

At Thong Thu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, there is another clip recording a group of female students beating a friend on the street in the middle of the night. In this clip, a female student is repeatedly grabbed by the hair, beaten, slapped in the face, and stomped on by a group of 3-4 other female students. The victim can only cover her face, endure the beating, and beg for mercy. Meanwhile, many other female students standing around do not intervene, and even shout and laugh...

Nữ sinh ở huyện Anh Sơn bị công an mời làm việc sau vụ đánh nhau.
A female student in Anh Son district was invited to work with the police after a fight.

Mr. Hoang Van Thanh said that the victim beaten in this clip is a 7th grade female student at Thong Thu Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities. The incident occurred on the evening of October 23, 2022 at Nam Piet Bridge, Loc Village, Thong Thu Commune. "The leader of the group of female students beating up their friend in this clip is a student in Dong Van Commune. That student has just been disciplined by being suspended from school for 1 week," Mr. Thanh said, adding that the cause of the incident stemmed from a very small conflict on social media.