VietNamNet Bridge - A teacher of history tried to kill himself with a knife at a ceremony held by the Le Quy Don High School to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the school's establishment.


Tran Duc Minh, director of the Binh Dinh provincial Education and Training Department, on January 25 confirmed this, saying that it happened on the morning of January 1, 2016.

When the ceremony almost came to an end, Phuong unexpectedly came to the stage with a paper. He gave the paper to the chair of the Binh Dinh provincial People’s Committee, who attended the ceremony. After that, he drew a knife from his body and tried to stab his stomach. However, as people were able to prevent the action, Phuong escaped death.

Phuong, when meeting VietNamNet’s reporters, said he understood that he violated the laws when taking this action and accepted punishment.

However, Phuong said he had reasons to do this. “The school’s management board and the trade union repressed and defamed me and offended my human dignity,” he said.

Phuong many times sent petitions to management agencies showing wrongdoings at Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted. 

A teacher of history tried to kill himself with a knife at a ceremony held by the Le Quy Don High School to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the school's establishment.

Following the petitions, the Quy Nhon City Education & Training Department and Binh Dinh provincial authorities sent inspectors to the school, who discovered eight violations in many different fields made by the school’s management board and Pham Quang Bac, the school’s headmaster.

Then things became more serious.

Phuong is a member of the Vietnam Veterans Association. He joined the anti-American resistance war for which he received a medal. Until the day Phuong denounced the wrongdoings, he had received flowers and congratulations every December 22 on the occasion of the Vietnamese People’s Army.

However, Phuong has not received flowers and congratulations in the last two years.

He also complained that Bac, the headmaster, refused to sign and confirm Phuong’s civil servant résumé.

When asked if he took the action because of the personal conflicts between him and Bac, Bac said disagreements existed in work, not personal conflicts.

Minh from the provincial education department said the teacher’s behavior discredited the education sector, and therefore, he must be disciplined.

Le Quy Don High School will have to convene a meeting to discuss how to treat the teacher.

The public has defended the older teacher.

“Why punish an old teacher just because he tried to commit suicide?” commented Hoang Ha Thu in an email to VietNamNet. “He must have felt disappointed when deciding to commit suicide. If the school disciplines him, it would push him against the wall once again,” Thu said.

“What Phuong needs is medical treatment, not discipline,” she wrote.

Dang Duy