School Violence: Whose Responsibility Is First?

Violence in schools is not a new story, but it is always a hot issue for society and there is currently no solution to completely resolve it.

The recent incidents of violence reported in the media show that the level of violence is getting more and more serious, with not only students fighting each other but also groups of students beating up a student, or even parents beating up students and teachers right in school. These incidents have been and are warning bells about the incompetence of schools, parents and the low awareness of the law among many people.

School violence is on the rise. Illustrative photo

Recently, social media has been continuously showing clips of students in Cao Bang, Tuyen Quang provinces, Hanoi, Hai Phong... fighting in the classroom or outside the school grounds. In these clips, not only are two students fighting to resolve a conflict, but a group of students rush in to beat, punch, stomp, and step on a student's body, head, and even use sticks to brutally beat a student, while the victim is unable to fight back.

Many incidents happened right in the classroom, many students witnessed, filmed, and then posted on social networks. Most recently, a 12th grade student in Tuyen Quang province was beaten to death by a student and a young man right in school. Not only students fought, in Nghe An and Hai Phong, there were also incidents of parents entering schools to beat students and teachers, causing hospitalization. When watching these clips, many people could not help but feel sorry for the increasingly serious situation of school violence, affecting the health and psychology of students.

Nguyen Minh Phuong, a student at Kim No Secondary School, Dong Anh District, Hanoi, said: “Watching school violence online makes me really worried and upset when I see many friends beating one friend. Those who are beaten will feel pain physically and mentally, especially when they go to school.”

The incident of parents beating students and the principal occurred at Dinh Son Primary School - Anh Son. Photo: Archive

Violence among school-age children, whether occurring in or out of school, with increasing frequency and severity, is creating insecurity for students, parents and society. It is difficult for anyone to know whether their children are physically or mentally abused every day they go to school. At any time, anywhere, students can fight and attack each other with weapons for any reason. Parents, teachers and schools only know about the incident when a clip is posted on the internet.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoang, Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An province, said: “When there is an incident of students violating ethics, we think that the first responsibility lies with the teachers who have not fulfilled their responsibilities. With the influence of external factors, maybe 2-3 years ago, those incidents did not happen and in previous years, those fights mainly happened among boys. But recently, fights have happened among girls and often the students are in the final year of school. We think that when doing educational work, we must be sensitive and advise promptly on incidents that occur to avoid cases where the cause and consequences are much greater when the incident occurs.”

From a social perspective, violence among school-age children is not a new thing, but it is “hotter” than before due to the more serious nature of the incidents and their widespread dissemination on the internet. Thanks to the support of smartphones and the internet, school violence is no longer simply disruptive behavior, conflicts, fighting to resolve conflicts... of students, but has become an alarming social phenomenon in a negative direction.

According to Ms. Vu Thu Huong, a lecturer at Hanoi Pedagogical University, the phenomenon of violence among school-age children is increasing, due to the fact that social violence is also increasing: “People’s legal awareness is too poor. Everyone does not care that if we assault others, we are breaking the law, but we do it because we like it. People do not intend to resolve conflicts clearly, but only intend to take revenge and demand justice for themselves. When someone glares at them, or something offends them, they immediately show their strength and think that it is necessary to demand justice. Even when parents see a small scratch on their child’s leg or arm, they think about demanding justice for their child, instead of thinking about what the problem is and how to solve it.”

From students breaking out into fights, cliques, attacking each other with words and force, to disciplinary action against students who violate the rules, such as lowering their conduct, suspending them for a period of time, or expelling them... all leave long-term and unpredictable consequences for both the victims and the students who make the mistake.

Many students who often beat their friends will easily become juvenile criminals, causing serious consequences for both their families and society. Only when families, schools and society stop blaming each other in educating students about morality and personality, and have a correct understanding of the situation of violence in schools so that they can coordinate to educate and adjust their behavior, can we hope to reduce the current situation of violence in schools./.

According to VOV