Teachers disciplined over lax anti-bullying efforts

Head of Ngoc Son Nursery School in Bac Giang Province and a teacher have been given warnings for lax management in a bullying case in which a girl was beaten and suffered severe injuries.

The 4-year-old beaten badly

Duong Thi Tham, the school's headmaster, was given a warning for lax management over teachers in the school. Teacher Nguyen Thi Truong was given a warning for failing to follow protocols which led to serious consequences. Teacher Nguyen Thi Huong was not considered to have committed any serious mistakes to warrant a penalty.

On December 1, the public was enraged after images of a little girl covered in bruises were posted on the Internet.

Truong said, "I was having lunch when I heard the cries. I told another teacher, Huong, to go see what was happening. I also returned to my class."

According to Truong, she monitored the girl's health when seeing that her cheeks were blood red after being beaten. In the afternoon, the girl still participated in daily activities like normal. Truong also informed her grandfather when the girl was picked up.

The girl beaten with plastic sticks

On December 2, the school's administrators visited and gave the family some money as support but were refused. Her family suspected that she might have been beaten by teacher Nguyen Thi Huong.

During a meeting with the school, the girl's family, and other children and their parents held by Ngoc Son People's Committee on December 4, the girl's classmates said she had been beaten by other children.

The police in Bac Giang Province investigated the case and concluded that she had been beaten by four classmates with plastic sticks.