Teenage boy forced to eat dirt by schoolmates over phone dispute

Nguyen Dinh Nghia, principal of Anh Xuan Secondary School, where they all study, said on Wednesday that the incident occurred on Monday.

A two-minute video on social media shows the boy sitting on the roadside, picking up dirt and eating it. After finishing one handful, he is forced by the two to eat another and stick out his tongue for inspection.

The bullies then give him water.

A screenshot from a video posted on social media shows a 9th grader eating dirt as forced by two schoolmates in Nghe An Province, October 2024.

Nguyen Thuc Quang, chairman of Nam Anh Commune in the central province, confirmed that the two boys, one also in ninth grade and the other in 11th, forced the victim to eat dirt.

"Preliminary findings suggest the conflict stemmed from a dispute over a phone," he said without elaborating further.

On Tuesday, after the video came to light, the boy's family took him to the hospital for a check-up, and doctors there assured he was in stable condition.

School representatives have since visited him to offer emotional support, and he has returned to class.

According to Nghia, the boy comes from a disadvantage family, is "quiet, honest and slower to develop than his peers."

The local police and the school are investigating and considering disciplinary action.

School bullying in Vietnam is a complex issue.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said at a meeting last November that between Sept. 1, 2021, and Nov. 5, 2023, around 700 incidents of school violence involving more than 2,000 students were recorded nationwide.