Nghe An: Teacher 'accused' of arbitrarily cutting student's hair

(Baonghean.vn) - Wanting to keep students clean and cool in the summer, a teacher at Nghia Binh Primary School (Tan Ky, Nghe An) used scissors to cut the hair of 15 students. Although this was the right policy, due to lack of experience and haste, it left behind unfortunate consequences.

Sorry parents, learn from experience

Nghe An Newspaper received a report that at Nghia Binh Primary School (Nghia Binh Commune, Tan Ky District), a teacher arbitrarily cut a student's hair, causing outrage among parents.

Teacher Nguyen Thi Quyen - Homeroom teacher of class 4B with 3 students who had their hair cut.

According to the complaint: About 20 students had their hair cut off by a teacher with scissors, including those with good hair, almost good hair, or not yet good hair. People said that this was an act of humiliation for students and their parents. As a result, many students were taken to the barber by their parents to have their hair cut to 3 centimeters, but "it still could not be fixed".

Working with the Vice Principal of Nghia Binh Primary School, teacher Tran Thi Ha confirmed that on April 6, there was an incident where teacher Mai Thi Thuong, the Team Leader, cut the hair of 15 students in classes 4A and 4B.According to Ms. Ha, the school's policy is that in addition to teaching culture, it also focuses on coordinating with parents to take care of and protect the health and hygiene of the children, helping them to be comfortable and clean while studying and playing. This includes reminding children to keep their hair neat, especially during the transition to summer.

However, this is an incident that should not happen in schools in general, especially at a time when Nghia Binh Primary School is preparing to receive the title of national standard school. Ms. Ha said: “Ms. Thuong is a new teacher, lacking experience. Ms. Thuong should have made a list of students with long hair and reported it to the homeroom teacher. After that, the homeroom teacher informed the parents to cut their children's hair to keep it clean and cool…”.

As the person who directly cut the students' hair, Ms. Mai Thi Thuong - Team Leader of Nghia Binh Primary School, recounted that it was a hot day, during physical education class, she saw the children running and playing, so they were sweating profusely, very unhygienic. Because before that, the school teachers had reminded the parents to cut their children's hair but some of them still had not cut it. In a hurry, she took scissors to clip some students' sideburns, and this was done for the purpose of personal hygiene for the students, not to humiliate them.

Ms. Thuong regretted: “After the incident, I realized that my actions were wrong. Because I had just graduated and did not have much experience, my teaching methods were not good, which led to this incident. I was very regretful, so after the incident happened, I apologized to the parents for my actions.”

After the incident, the school's Board of Directors asked Ms. Thuong to write a self-criticism and invited the parents to meet and apologize for her actions. And the parents all expressed their sympathy.

Recess time of students at Nghia Binh Primary School.

Verifying the information at the Tan Ky District Education Department, it was learned that shortly after the incident, the department also received a petition from the Department of Education. On April 23, the Education Department established an inspection team to verify the content of the petition; then, coordinated with local authorities and the school to work with the parents of the students. Here, the opinions of the parents whose children had their hair cut were thoroughly discussed, with reason and reason; and it was shown that there was no petition from the parents to denounce the school and teacher Thuong.

However, realizing that the incident of the teacher cutting the student's hair was wrong, the Department of Education assigned the Principal of Nghia Binh Primary School to organize a review, draw experience in managing teachers and staff, and take appropriate disciplinary action against the teacher involved in cutting the student's hair.

Just a small matter

As one of the parents whose child had his hair cut, Mr. Nguyen Van Trinh, hamlet 6, Nghia Binh commune (Tan Ky), father of student Nguyen Van Tai, class 4B said: When I first heard the news, I was also very upset by the teacher's actions. After that, the principal later asked for sympathy. After that, the school board and the teacher came to apologize, asked for experience, but we ignored it, there was no such thing as a petition or something.

Mr. Trinh said that in the past, the school had reminded parents many times to cut their children's hair, but due to busy work, some parents had not been able to cut their hair. Although the teacher's arbitrary cutting of students' hair has caused some anger among parents, looking back, the purpose is for the students' own good. "I think, to have consensus, the school should have a method of coordinating with families, besides that, managing teachers well. If that is the case, the people will agree and support it," said Mr. Trinh.

Ms. Dau Thi Hoan, from Hamlet 1 (whose son is Phung Van Thai, a 4B student whose hair was cut by Ms. Thuong) also had similar opinions to Mr. Nguyen Van Trinh. Ms. Hoan shared that before the day Thai's hair was cut, she heard him say that the school reminded parents to cut their children's hair to keep them cool in the summer. However, due to being busy with farm work, she and her husband were not able to cut their child's hair. After the incident, the family asked someone to cut their child's hair again.

Nghe An Newspaper reporter talked with Ms. Dau Thi Hoan, parent of student Phung Van Thai, a student in class 4B.

Ms. Hoan said: “The incident was not serious at all. The family saw it as just a reminder from the teacher to the parents. At the parent meeting, the school board and the teacher directly apologized and learned from the experience, so the family agreed…”.

Through information gathering, it is seen that the relevant parties, here the Department of Education of Tan Ky district, Nghia Binh Primary School and parents, have reached a high level of consensus and unity in handling the incident of the Team Leader, teacher Mai Thi Thuong cutting the student's hair.

Ha Giang – Nguyen Hung