Parents wait for their children in front of school

C, a parent in HCMC, in mid-March lodged an appeal to government agencies and local press about the sexual abuse of her 7-year-old daughter, a student at a primary school in Thu Duc district.

Hanoi police have arrested Cao Manh Hung, 34, for the alleged sexual abuse of an eight-year-old girl in Hoang Mai District’s Thinh Liet Ward. 

As per the family’s complaint, the incident took on January 8. Hung took the child to a dark alley and raped her. She was rescued by two of her friends, who hit the man with a broom and their shoes.

Local newspapers later cited similar cases in which the victims were girls, students at primary or secondary schools.

Reports showed that in Vietnam, child sexual abuse is on the rise in recent years. 

According to the Ministry of Public Security, more than 1,000 cases were reported each year in the 2008-2011 period. The figure in 2012 was 1,400 and rose to 1,500-1,700 between 2014 and 2015.

Hoang Thieu Hoa, a parent in Cau Giay district, wrote on a parents’ forum that he felt insecure when bringing her daughter, a 5-year-old girl, to preschool.

“I am afraid that students are not protected even in school, which is believed to be the safest place for children,” she said. 

“They are facing too many risks in school, while they cannot expect support from teachers,” Hoa said, recalling an accident with a schoolboy at the Nam Trung Yen Primary School in Hanoi some months ago.

The student was hit by a car with the school’s teachers inside when he was playing in the schoolyard. 

The problem, as Hoa said, was that the student and his family did not receive sympathy and help from teachers. The school’s headmaster even denied her responsibility in the case.

Dang Ngoc Thanh, a parent who has a daughter attending TQT Primary School in Tan Binh district, complained that her daughter will have to stay outside the school if she is late on Monday. 

“In previous years, even if coming late, students can attend the flag saluting ceremony on Monday after they were reprimanded. But now, they have to stay outside the school until the ceremony finishes,” she complained.

“I wonder if the school’s management board knows that keeping students outside the school will pose risks to them,” she said.

“What will happen if small children meet evildoers? You see that gamblers and drug addicts are everywhere,” she added.

“The safety of students must be guaranteed by school management board and security guards,” she said.

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