Student abuse cases: Adults are worried about protecting themselves, forgetting their children?

After the incident of 231 slaps at Duy Ninh Secondary School (Quang Ninh District, Quang Binh Province), from leaders, managers to public opinion, everyone was eager and urgently "intervened" to handle the matter.

The management is waiting for reports, statements, and serious handling, coordinating with the police in prosecuting the teacher; the public is curious about how the teacher will be handled, someone boldly declared "if that student was my child, I would slap the teacher 231 times"...

The school rushed to do everything to protect the school and teachers. Once again, after the shock of the crisis, the students in the class had to complete a survey as a "feedback".

The student who was slapped and slapped his friend in the 231 slap incident needs an apology and psychological counseling support.

In this incident, not only the student who was slapped, the 23 students who slapped their friend were also victims of the violence. They were instilled with the seeds of violence, and it is difficult to say that they will see violence as a normal way to solve problems. If they are lucky enough to "resist" the violence in the future, then today's slap in the face will become a haunting memory that is difficult to erase in their memories and lives.

But it seems that few people pay attention to the pain these children are suffering. Adults are absorbed in routine administrative work, busy trying to find solutions to their problems. There is not a single apology for the children! Support for them is not only ignored but also refused.

A famous psychologist said that when the 231 slaps incident happened, the first thing he wanted to do was go to Quang Binh to consult with the students. But this request was rejected because... adults were confused and had more work to do.

During this journey, he learned that some people working in the field of psychology also wanted to do something to help students in the 231 slap incident, supporting training for teachers on positive discipline methods completely free of charge. But they were also refused.

The above incident and other cases of violence in education such as the teacher punishing children by making them drink water from a rag in Hai Phong, the incident of a teacher instructing students to slap their friends in Hanoi, the incident of a teacher not teaching for nearly 4 months causing a stir in Ho Chi Minh City... Adults were evasive and explained clearly, but one thing was undeniable: children and students were the victims.

In the process of handling the crisis, we have completely abandoned the children. No one has apologized or cared about the students, about their pain.

Education always says that students are the center - but no, adults only care about themselves, protect themselves more than they care about children. Through the cases of teacher abuse against students, when the incident "breaks out", most of the apologies are only for the administrators and the public.

Not to mention, there are cases where students are victims but are seen as... perpetrators. The student whose leg was broken by a taxi at Nam Trung Yen Primary School, Hanoi, was once accused by the principal of lying and making up stories. Many teachers denied that the student had made up stories until the incident was cleared up.

In the incident of a teacher not teaching for months in Ho Chi Minh City, the female student who spoke up about the incident had to endure a lot of pressure. Many people thought that her speaking out was too harsh on the teacher, affecting the school... After that, her family decided to transfer her to another school.

But how many other cases of abuse are there? How do children face or overcome them when they don't receive an apology or support?

A sincere apology from an adult to a child when they have done something wrong can solve many things. Not only does it soothe the hurt in the children, help them regain their trust in adults, but it also makes the perpetrator feel a little better. Yet that is so rare in the educational environment, in cases of child abuse...