Principal suspended after students abuse teacher

Pham Duy Sang, principal of the Van Phu Middle School in Son Duong District, was suspended for 15 days per a decision signed by Giang Tuan Anh, chairman of the Son Duong District People’s Committee.

The suspension, beginning on Thursday, aims to allow school managers to evaluate and verify information related to the incident in which students cornered a music teacher, locked her in a classroom, and abused her with verbal insults and physical violence.

In a two-minute video clip that began circulating on social media Monday, a teacher could be seen locked inside a classroom as dozens of students forced her into a corner while screaming and throwing objects at her.

Similar videos of the same incident continued to show up on Tuesday.

In a five-minute clip, a group of students could be heard spewing curse words and stuffing trash into the teacher’s bag.

When the teacher walked towards the classroom door, the students threw shoes and slippers at her.

Another longer video showed the teacher retaliating against the students, swinging her shoes in the air and chasing students around the classroom.

The Son Duong District People’s Committee reported that the incident happened at around 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 29.

According to reports, when the music class began, some students requested to leave class, but the teacher refused.

The teacher and students then began arguing.

When the class ended and the teacher moved to another class to teach, a group of students followed her, throwing insults at her, as evinced by clips uploaded to Facebook.

While ordering the provincial People’s Committee to report back about the matter before Dec. 29, the Ministry of Education and Training called the incident "an act of violence and a serious moral violation."

It had been previously speculated by some familiar with the matter that the students’ behavior was in retaliation for previously-documented instances of disrespectful conduct by the teacher.