Potential school violence from cyberspace

Female student beaten and stripped because of a comment on Facebook

In mid-February, Quynh Phuong Secondary School (Hoang Mai town) was still considering and imposing disciplinary measures on the female students involved in the fight in the clip that has been circulating on social media for many days. After inviting the female students to work, the police completed the documents and handled them according to the law.

According to the investigation of Quynh Nghia Commune Police (Quynh Luu District), there were 7 female secondary school students from 3 schools in Hoang Mai Town and Quynh Luu District involved in this fight. Among them, 2 female students in grade 7 and 1 female student in grade 8, Quynh Phuong Secondary School, fought, humiliated others, filmed, and took photos. 1 female student from Quynh Nghia Secondary School was also determined to have committed similar acts. In addition to the female student from Tien Thuy Secondary School who was the victim, the other 2 female students in the case were considered for handling for not reporting the crime.

Mr. Ho Anh Tuan - Principal of Quynh Phuong Secondary School said that the cause of the fight has been clarified. Accordingly, just because of a comment on Facebook by a 7th grade female student of Tien Thuy Secondary School, a group of 3 female students of Quynh Phuong Secondary School traveled 20km to the school, dragged her to the sea dike area in Quynh Nghia commune to beat her. The female students also filmed the fight and posted it on Facebook.

Police take a statement from a female student in a fight in Anh Son. Photo: TH

The clip shows a 7th grade female student being brutally beaten and stripped by a group of friends despite her pleas. “Just because of a very small conflict on social media, the students behaved like that. As the principal, I am very ashamed. During the recent flag salute, I spent almost the entire session reminding the students about this issue as well as the skills to use social media in a civilized and safe manner,” Mr. Tuan added.

This is not the first time that school violence has occurred due to trivial reasons on social networks. Recently, in Nghe An in particular and the whole country in general, video clips have continuously appeared recording scenes of students, especially female students, fighting. Many of these incidents were caused by the students' behavior on Facebook.

In recent years, along with the explosive growth of digital technology and the strong popularity of the Internet, social networks, especially Facebook, have become a popular communication platform and are widely used by many people. But on the positive side, living virtually on social networks has also become a trend for many people, especially young people; forming many bad habits that go beyond limits. Especially after the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, most students have access to smartphones or computers to study online.

The Department of Children - Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, has just conducted a survey in the first 3 months of 2022. The results show that children are using the Internet more and more. Specifically, in the 3-month survey, 89% of children accessed and used the Internet, of which 87% used the Internet daily. In addition to the time spent studying, children often spend an average of 5-7 hours/day on social networks.

Along with the positive aspects, social networks also have negative aspects for children such as: Access to fake information; access to bad and toxic content; addiction to using social networks. More dangerously, when children are not fully aware of the risks lurking when using social networks.

Nowadays, almost every class in middle and high schools has its own groups on social networks. Besides the positive effects such as informing each other about class activities, sharing learning, online groups also become places for students to gossip, discuss or insult each other. In addition, there are also offensive, insulting, harassing, stalking, excluding, isolating, teasing status lines and comments... also appearing frequently on social network accounts. That is the cause of many school violence cases.

Social media skills gap

Regarding students' social media skills, a leader of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training said that the unit also regularly issues documents and plans on this issue. In February 2021, the Department of Education and Training also had a specific plan sent to schools. That is the Plan to strengthen management and political and ideological education for students in the online environment in 2021 and orientation to 2022.

This plan requires schools to strengthen management and political and ideological education for students on the Internet to improve their capacity and skills to exploit and use information on the Internet to ensure it is healthy and useful. Minimize the impact of harmful and incorrect information on the Internet on students. The Department also requires 100% of schools and educational institutions to organize propaganda, education, and guidance for students to exploit and use the Internet environment in accordance with regulations, serving research, study, and healthy entertainment. 100% of schools must build a team of cadres and teachers to manage and provide political education for students on the Internet environment...

From 2020, students are allowed to use phones during class. Photo: Huynh Phu

According to Principal Ho Anh Tuan, like other schools, Quynh Phuong Secondary School has long incorporated social networking skills training programs for students into its lessons, especially during flag salutes. However, the results are still not high. The lessons do not have a specific curriculum, but only rely on the knowledge of the teachers. Students often "listen first, forget later". The reason is because these programs are still considered as secondary subjects, do not have to go through exams, so they are not paid attention to.

“It must be admitted that our education system is heavily focused on teaching literacy and knowledge, which is assessed through exams. The elements of teaching people, teaching life skills, and teaching cultural traditions in schools are not given much attention. Although some content is in the curriculum, it is only taught in form,” Mr. Tuan said frankly.

According to this principal, the whole society is facing a crisis in managing children's use of social networks. Parents must equip their children with smartphones from a very early age. Schools cannot prohibit students from using phones in the classroom. "When students have phones, 100% have social network accounts. In terms of technical skills in using the phone, students are sometimes more sophisticated than teachers. But they have not been equipped with skills to behave on social networks. That is an extremely dangerous gap," said Mr. Tuan.

Sharing the same opinion with Mr. Tuan, another junior high school principal also said that the management of students using social networks is facing a crisis. “Many students are only in 6th grade but honestly admitted to me that many days they stayed up until 3am, surfing social networks, creating chat groups to curse each other online. Then they clicked on robberies, murders, rapes, and even visited porn websites that their parents could not manage. Because now, many children in secondary school almost have their own bedrooms. The rooms are equipped with all kinds of things, and when the door is closed, it is their own world. Regarding this issue, if the family does not cooperate or is unable to manage, the school will also have an extremely difficult time. It is extremely dangerous,” the principal said.