Teacher fired for punishing students by making them drink blackboard eraser water

On the afternoon of April 5, Mr. Le Van Cuong, Vice Chairman of An Duong District People's Committee, saidBoard of DirectorsAn Dong Primary School hasTermination of employment contract with Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Huong.

This decision was made after the direction of City Party Secretary Le Van Thanh. On the same morning, Mr. Thanhconvened a meeting with the Departments of Education and Training, Home Affairs, and An Duong District People's Committee to consider disciplining teacher Minh Huong for punishing a third-grade student by forcing her to drink water used to clean a blackboard.

Based on the report of An Dong Primary School and the statement admitting the behavior of teacher Minh Huong, the leaders of An Duong district determined that the teacher had seriously violated professional ethics and needed to be dismissed from the education sector. The board of directors of An Dong School has decided to suspend her from work, pending the meeting of the Disciplinary Council to terminate the labor contract with this teacher.

Earlier on the morning of April 3, seeing a female student of class 3A5 talking privately during class, homeroom teacher Nguyen Thi Minh Huong called her to the front of the class and punished her by making her drink water used to clean the blackboard. The student refused to drink it immediately and was threatened by the teacher, so she reluctantly drank half a cup.The teacher then squeezed all the water out of the rag and forced the female student to drink it all.

That same evening, Ms. Minh Huong wrote a self-criticism to the female student’s family, admitting her mistake. “I truly regret and know that my actions were wrong. I ask for forgiveness from both of you and the entire family…”, the 23-year-old teacher wrote.

According to authorities, teacher Nguyen Thi Minh Huong graduated with a bachelor's degree in Education from Hai Phong University and has been at An Dong School for nearly two years.The punished female student has difficult circumstances and has had to live with her grandparents since childhood.