What forms of discipline are teachers allowed to use with students?

After receiving opinions on the level of discipline for students, recently, Giong Ong To High School (District 2, Ho Chi Minh City) decided to reduce the penalty for 2 male students who secretly filmed in the female restroom. Specifically, from being suspended from school for 1 year, these 2 students were only suspended for 2 weeks, classified as having poor conduct in the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year.

Another more controversial case is the case of female student NTNY (10A4 grade student, Vinh Xuong High School, Tan Chau town, An Giang) suspected of committing suicide in the restroom after being named under the flag, having to be grounded every day for 2 weeks...

How can teachers punish students?

So, if there is a violation of discipline,pupilWhat will be the penalty?

At the end of October, the Ministry of Education and Training completed the time to collect comments on the Draft (2nd time) Circular on Regulations on rewards and discipline for students in the following areas:general education facilities.

According to the Draft, schools will consider implementing positive disciplinary measures or applying other forms of discipline (reprimand; warning; suspension from class to implement a separate education plan for students who violate the law). The regulation on naming students who violate discipline at the flag is abolished.

While new regulations on rewards andstudent disciplinehas not been issued, high schools can still follow the current regulations to apply, specifically according to Circular 32/2020/TT-BGDDT issued by the Ministry of Education and Training on the Charter of junior high schools, high schools and multi-level general schools.

Female student suspected of suicide in An Giang: "I seek death to prove I am not wrong."

This Circular takes effect from November 1. Accordingly, the acts that high school students are not allowed to do include: Insulting the dignity, honor, and physically abusing teachers, school officials, staff, other people, and other students; Cheating in studying, testing, exams, and admissions; Buying, selling, and using alcohol, beer, cigarettes, addictive substances, other stimulants, fireworks, and explosives; Using mobile phones and other devices while studying in class that are not for studying and are not permitted by teachers;Fighting, disturbing order and security in schooland public places; Using or exchanging cultural products with content that incites violence or depravity; Using toys or playing games that are harmful to one's healthy development.

Students are not allowed to violate other prohibited acts as prescribed by law.

Also according to this circular, students who commit violations during their studies and training will be educated or disciplined in the following forms: Reminding, supporting, and directly helping students overcome their shortcomings; Reprimanding and notifying parents to coordinate in helping students overcome their shortcomings; Temporarily suspending students from school for a period of time and implementing other educational measures according to regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Teachers are also not allowed to criticize students in front of the whole class, in front of the whole school or in a joint meeting with parents.

“Marginal” measures

However, for a long time, in addition to the disciplinary measures officially named in the legal documents ofMinistry of Education and Training, some teachers have come up with different forms.

On a forum group of thousands of teachers, the site administrator has compiled and shared with the community a series of punishments:

“- Students talk privately many times, disturbing the students around => punishment is to sit alone at the front of the class for a few days.

- Students fighting => Punished to do labor/cleaning together.

- Students do not do their homework => Punish them by learning by heart and re-teaching the lesson to the whole class.

- Students' disorder affects the class => Punish and apologize to each person in the class.

- Students swear => Punished by standing and bowing to apologize 20 times.

- Students insult teachers => Invite parents to work and praise first, then talk about the problem of the teacher being insulted. Students feel ashamed and proactively apologize to the teacher (with full conviction).

- Students got bad grades => Punished for copying the test many times.

- Students skip school to play games => Punishment for cleaning before and after school, copying old lessons and skipping school.

- Students swear at their parents => Punishment: write a thank you letter to their parents.

- Hyperactive, naughty students (primary school) => Punishment: standing in the corner of the classroom.

Class time of students at Mai Son Primary School (Tuong Duong). Photo courtesy of MH

However, the comments are also very diverse, with both support and opposition.

For example, the punishment of sitting alone at the front of the class or standing alone in a corner, the supporter believes that when students are forced to sit alone, they will feel embarrassed and change. But other opinions analyze that if they are forced to sit alone or stand alone in a corner and the student is still naughty, it will attract the attention of the whole class and the whole class will lose concentration. And then if they are still naughty, what should the teacher do?

Or the punishment of copying homework many times is considered to have little effect. Many teachers believe that punishments such as labor, cleaning, apologizing... have little effect, students only do it to get the job done...

Sharing the pressure with teachers, parent Nguyen Van Son (HCMC) acknowledged that the above measures are only effective with students who are good but have violated the rules.

“For students who are disobedient and considered special, forcing them to copy punishments or apologize is useless. If they dare to offend their parents and teachers, will things like forcing them to write letters of apology make them truly repent?”